GOP killed tax cutting Constitutional Amendment 6

By Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Columnist

It was Republicans, predominantly from western and North Louisiana, but even in some urban parishes like East Baton Rouge, which destroyed the effort for Orleans Parish to limit increases on home assessments for property tax purposes to 10 percent per year. An effort which would have likely passed easily had it applied to the whole state (as evidenced by CA8) died because it was limited to New Orleans.

Which is exactly why Constitutional Amendment #6’s opponents wanted it limited to New Orleans. Despite the promises of the measure’s authors, Rep. Matthew Willard and Orleans Assessor Erroll Williams, that the tax limitation measure would be extended statewide if passed for New Orleans, conservative voters turned against it – because it only benefited the Crescent City in the short term. That is the strategy that its pro-tax increase opponents desired, particularly Williams’ adversaries in the pro-tax Assessor’s Association, and it worked.

In fact, it is a testament to the hard work of these two men that CA6 failed so narrowly, by just 6,984 out of 1,278,422 ballots cast. That is almost a 50/50 divide in the electorate statewide. In contrast, Constitutional Amendment #8 won with 55 percent of the vote, but it applied statewide, abolishing the annual certification of disabled voters’ income in order to qualify for a property assessment freeze. More interestingly, 1,310,769 voters participated in voting upon CA6, or just over twice the number by which CA6 failed. It is easy to conclude that some anti-tax voters simply skipped pushing the button on the amendment because it applied solely to New Orleans.

The irony is that many urban parishes have experienced the sudden jump in housing prices which have driven up property taxes on so many families in Orleans. When one owns a house valued at $100,000 in 2000, now valued at $800,000 in 2022, your tax bill is more than eight times higher– even when you have done nothing to change the nature of your home. Such is the surge in pricing caused by gentrification, chasing many families – particularly many Black families – from their homes.

Traditionally, though, it was Caucasian Republicans who supported property tax limitation measures in Louisiana; however, the evidence proved quite convincing that many of these same GOP stalwarts cast a ballot against CA6, killing it – perhaps for good.

In the parishes where Republican John Kennedy won biggest, CA6 failed most. In Acadia, where 81 percent voted for the incumbent GOP senator, 67 percent voted against the amendment. In Cameron, 88 percent voted for Kennedy, and 59 percent voted NO on the amendment. Jefferson Davis Parish was 79 percent for Kennedy, and 60 percent voted NO on CA6. Lasalle Parish cast 90 percent of their ballots for Kennedy, while 78 percent opposed the constitutional change.

Madison and Morehouse parishes voted against CA6 with 60 percent of their electorate, whist supporting the incumbent senator by margins of 52 percent and 62 percent respectively. Ouachita and Pointe Coupe parishes were 56 percent against CA6 while giving Kennedy 62 percent and 67 percent respectively. Vermillion, West Carroll and Winn parishes hit 61 percent, 64 percent, and 66 percent while supporting the GOP candidate with 81 percent, 87 percent and 79 percent of their electorates.

These defeats happened even as Orleans’ surrounding suburban parishes supported Constitutional Amendment 6, whilst also voting for Kennedy. Jefferson Parish approved CA6 with 59 percent of the vote, St. Bernard Parish with 52 percent, St. Charles with 51 percent, St. John Parish with 53 percent, St. Tammany Parish with 57 percent, and Plaquemines Parish with 54 percent. That was not enough to offset the losses in other, more distant parish results – even with Orleans Parish voters approving CA6 with a stunning 76 percent of the vote.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy proved to be East Baton Rouge. Kennedy won here too, but with only 46 percent of the vote. However, in this urban parish, experiencing high property valuation jumps, CA6 lost by 1900 votes, or one third of the statewide margin of defeat, even as the population proved almost evenly divided, a demographic breakdown that too closely reflects the racial breakdown of the Capitol Parish.

This article originally published in the November 14, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.