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11.23.21 -Accounting Today – 

The overwhelmingly complex Louisiana sales tax system is being challenged in federal court as crossing the line created by the Supreme Court in its 2018 Wayfair decision.

Halstead Bead, a family-owned jewelry and craft supply wholesaler based in Prescott, Arizona, filed suit in the Eastern District of Louisiana on Nov. 15, 2021, arguing that the state places an unconstitutional burden on businesses that wish to sell to Louisianans. Due to its sales tax complexity. Halstead Bead sells to customers across the country but avoids sales to Louisianans because of the immense burden placed on small businesses, especially online retailers, by the sales tax system.

In its brief, Halstead noted that Louisiana’s constitution requires each of the state’s 64 parishes to collect sales and use taxes, with each parish setting its own tax rates and categories — and state law requires out-of-state businesses that sell to Louisiana customers to register and file reports in each parish where sales are made. The parish-by-parish approach generates many pages of sales tax rules, creating hundreds of hours of compliance costs annually.

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