New school sales tax takes effect July 1

The new sales tax approved by St. Mary voters in March for public school teacher and staff pay will be collected beginning July 1, according to the parish Sales and Use Tax Department.
The 0.45% tax was approved by St. Mary voters by a 62-38% margin in a low turnout March 20.
The tax is expected to raise just less than $4 million a year. The added revenue is dedicated to pay increases for certified personnel, mostly teachers, as well as other staff members.
The School Board has said it plans a $3,000 annual raise for certified staff members and $1,500 for other district employees.
The Sales and Use Tax Department had this message for businesses that collect sales taxes:
“This additional 0.45% tax is to be levied and collected upon the sale, the use, the lease or rental, the consumption and storage for use or consumption, of tangible personal property and the sale of services in the Parish of St. Mary.
“This additional 0.45% tax takes effect on transactions beginning July 1, 2021. New returns will be available with the new rates for your July remittance. Please don’t report transactions prior to July 1, 2021, on the new returns.
“The return can be accessed on our page at the Louisiana Association of Tax Administrators, www.lataonline.com and www.parishe-file.revenue.louisiana.gov.”
The effort to enact the sales tax, which began in December 2019, proved to be controversial.
The measure drew no public opposition from individual School Board members as they moved to have the new tax submitted to parish voters.
The parish’s public schools rank in the top third of school systems in the state’s accountability system, they argued, while average teacher pay is below the state average.
As the drive to enact the tax began, Lafourche Parish’s board planned to go to voters with a similar levy, later withdrawn, for the same purpose. St. Mary proponents said the local pay raise was needed to make the parish competitive in attracting and keeping good staff members.
But the tax proposal drew some high-powered opposition, led by state Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, and Parish President David Hanagriff.
Allain and Hanagriff both said they had no problem in principle with increasing teacher pay.
But Allain objected to the original 0.5% proposal, which would have dedicated a portion of the proceeds to a school technology fund.
Hanagriff’s opposition was based on the potential impact on St. Mary’s sluggish economy and on what he said was the School Board’s unwillingness to compromise.
The School Board reduced the proposal to 0.45% and eliminated the technology fund dedication before putting the proposition on the March 20 ballot.