Should Lafayette Have Occupational License Taxes? – Lafayette Live

With news of the Lafayette Public School Board's reported $22 million deficit, a KPEL caller posed an interesting question: is Lafayette Consolidated Government collecting all the taxes it can? We asked City-Parish President Joey Durel his thoughts on the subject during today's 'Lafayette Live' segment on 'Nathan and Bernie in the Morning.'

"The answer is, we are collecting everything that we know about," said Durel, though he admits Lafayette is one of the lower taxed cities in the country.

"We’re the lowest taxed state in the country; we’re the lowest taxed major city in the state, and we’re the lowest taxed parish that has a major city in the state – by a lot," said Durel.

The City-Parish President points out occupational licenses as an example of a tax that most cities collect, but are not collect in Lafayette. An occupational license tax is a tax on the gross receipts of each person or entity operating from a physical business location within the corporate city limits of a city.

"One of the problems you have in Lafayette is that we are one of the only cities that doesn’t have occupational licenses," said Durel. "Without an occupational license, it’s hard to track things."

When asked what it would take to bring occupational license taxes to Lafayette, Durel responded succinctly.

"If that’s the answer, and I’m not sure that that’s the answer, it would take a vote of the council," said Durel. "That’s one of the great things about local government – we don’t impose taxes, we give opportunities to vote."

To listen to the full audio from the interview, click the play button below:

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