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Assessor warns state changes to industrial tax exemption could expand giveaways and reduce local revenues
Summary
Saint Charles Parish assessor briefed the jury on recent state executive changes to industrial/manufacturing tax exemptions — removing job-creation requirements and local veto power — and warned these shifts could increase revenue foregone for parishes like Assumption.
A guest assessor told the Assumption Parish Police Jury that recent changes in how the state handles industrial tax exemptions could significantly affect local tax revenue.
Tam Troxler, assessor for Saint Charles Parish and a member of the Louisiana Assessors Association industrial tax-exemption committee, briefed jurors about executive-direction changes from the governor’s office. Troxler said the current governor retained an 80% cap for most exemptions but removed a binding local-approval requirement and eliminated the former job‑creation requirement for many project types. "The governor kept the 80 percent cap, but he removed the job requirement and the requirement that the parish's approval be a necessary condition for his signature," Troxler said.
Troxler explained that without a local veto or a job-creation test, applicants can pursue a broader set of "miscellaneous capital additions" bundled into exemption requests. He said his parish’s experience showed the effect of policy changes: under an earlier executive order that emphasized job creation and limited miscellaneous capital additions, Saint Charles collected roughly 67¢ on the dollar of taxable value for industrial property; loosening those rules had previously reduced collections to about 27¢ on the dollar.
Jurors asked procedural questions about how they will be notified of exemption requests and how solar and other emerging uses are assessed. Troxler said assessors and LED (state economic development officials) are notified during the process, but the governor’s change makes local input consultative rather than determinative.
No formal action was taken; jurors asked staff to forward any incoming exemption requests to the jury and to continue monitoring legislative and administrative actions that affect local tax bases.
