Louisiana has a flat 3.00 percent individual income tax rate. Louisiana has a flat 5.50 percent corporate income tax rate, a 5.00 percent state sales tax rate, and an average combined state and local sales tax rate of 10.11 percent—the highest in the nation. Louisiana has a 0.55 percent effective property tax rate on owner-occupied housing value. Louisiana does not have an estate tax or inheritance tax. Louisiana’s gas tax is 20.93 cents per gallon, and its cigarette excise tax is $1.08 per pack of 20 cigarettes.
Louisiana raises tax revenue primarily through general sales taxes (40.2 percent of total state and local tax revenue), other taxes (19.3 percent), and property taxes (18.5 percent). Louisiana collects $5,863 in state and local tax collections per capita, carries $6,304 in state and local debt per capita, and has an 82 percent funded ratio of public pension plans. Louisiana’s tax system ranks 23rd overall on the 2027 State Tax Competitiveness Index.
Each state’s tax code is a multifaceted system with many moving parts, and Louisiana is no exception. Use the tabs below to compare Louisiana taxes with other states and to see how Louisiana raises tax revenue. You can also browse our tax maps, which are compiled from our annual publication, Facts & Figures 2026: How Does Your State Compare?
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The State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.
122 min read
Facts & Figures serves as a one-stop state tax data resource that compares all 50 states on over 40 measures of tax rates, collections, burdens, and more.
2 min read
Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for more than a third of state tax collections. How do income taxes compare in your state?
9 min read
Retail sales taxes are an essential part of most states’ revenue toolkits, responsible for nearly a quarter of combined state and local tax collections.
18 min read
Forty-four states levy a corporate income tax, with top rates ranging from a 2 percent flat rate in North Carolina to an 11.5 percent top marginal rate in New Jersey. Four states—Georgia, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania—reduced their corporate income tax rates effective January 1, 2026.
5 min read
Property taxes are the primary tool for financing local governments. While no taxpayers in high-tax jurisdictions will be celebrating their yearly payments, property taxes are largely rooted in the benefit principle of taxation: the people paying the property tax bills are most often the ones benefiting from the services.
9 min read
The State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.
122 min read
The past four years have brought significant focus on state income tax reform and relief, and with that, something of a flat tax revolution.
11 min read
Backfilling forgone local property tax revenue through new state taxes is difficult because it dramatically shifts overall tax burdens, undermines local accountability, and cannot easily adjust for changing population mixes.
20 min read
Wireless consumers continue to be burdened with high taxes, fees, and government surcharges in many states and localities throughout the country.
11 min read
Legal sports betting has grown rapidly since the Supreme Court granted states the ability to establish online sports betting markets in Murphy vs. NCAA in 2018.
6 min read
Growing cigarette tax levels and differentials have made cigarette smuggling both a national problem and a lucrative criminal enterprise.
6 min read
For Congress, work on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is done. But in state capitols, the work has not yet begun. Many of the tax changes in the federal reconciliation act flow through to state tax codes—automatically in some states, and subject to an update in states’ Internal Revenue Code conformity date in others.
39 min read
However states choose to respond to other tax provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they should conform to the pro-growth provisions, which represent a marked improvement in the corporate tax code.
12 min read
However well-intended they may be, sales tax holidays remain the same as they always have been—ineffective and inefficient.
16 min read
The One Big Beautiful Bill’s changes to the taxation of international income have surprising implications for state codes, yielding tax increases and a revised tax base that, through quirks of state incorporation, bears very little resemblance to the federal base and almost nothing of its purpose.
10 min read
