Politics is an increasingly wild and quite unpredictable sport. By now, you’ve likely seen claims that Amendment 2 (on your March 29 ballot) will somehow place property taxes on our churches. This just could not be further from the truth. Amendment 2 does not place any taxes on properties that are currently enjoying exemptions … and certainly not churches.

As a third term state representative and current chairman of the House Committee on Ways & Means (that governs the state’s tax code), I authored four bills in the 2024 tax session – two to make our corporate tax structure more competitive, one that gave us the largest personal income tax reduction Louisiana has seen, and the final to rewrite Article VII of the Constitution, which is Amendment 2 on your March 29 ballot.

In drafting House Bill 7 (Amendment 2), the aim was to declutter and strengthen Louisiana’s State Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is short, concise, to the point. It serves as a framework and a guiding document that has made our country great for almost 250 years. There are no tax exemption protections for churches or nonprofits in the U.S. Constitution, yet they have always enjoyed those exemptions because lawmakers certainly understand and value their roles. The Louisiana Constitution, on the other hand, is the second longest state constitution in the country, and it’s loaded with items that should instead be in our tax code.

As it was making its way through the process, we were contacted by a few leaders of church organizations about concerns of placing those property tax exemptions in the tax code instead of the Constitution. I agreed that religious freedoms enjoyed special status and added specific language to the Constitution that I believe protects our churches and moved the language for all other nonprofits to the tax code, requiring a supermajority vote in both chambers of the legislature to change the statute (HB11, now Act 12) plus governor’s signature – and everyone, included church leaders who contacted us, seemed pleased.

Suddenly, a lawsuit was filed by a lawyer from New Orleans. I’ve never met him. It seems he’s probably a very intelligent attorney – graduating from Harvard, then the  University of California at Berkeley Law School. I think it is important to point out that many of his associations seem to be what most would consider more on the liberal side.

I sincerely hope this lawsuit wasn’t just an attempt to stymie a Republican governor and legislature trying to enact positive reforms.

But genuine questions from some of our pastors and ministry leaders popped up as well.

So, allow me to share how some of our fellow conservative states handle church exemptions:

• Alabama: constitutional protection for properties exclusively used for worship
• Arkansas: constitutional protection for churches used as such (so as a church)
• Florida: no constitutional exemption, a constitutional “allowance” for the legislature to enact in the tax code
• Georgia: no constitutional exemption, the constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the legislature to repeal a religious property exemption in the tax code
• Kentucky: constitutional protection for property owned by institutions of religion
• Mississippi: no constitutional exemption, provided for in tax code
• Tennessee: no constitutional exemption, a constitutional “allowance” for the legislature to enact in the tax code
• Texas: no constitutional exemption, a constitutional “allowance” for the legislature to enact in the tax code

Importantly, churches have not faced an onslaught of tax assessments in these states, and there is absolutely no desire to see that happen in Louisiana either.

Furthermore, the vast majority of all state constitutions that actually mention exemptions for nonprofits and charitable organizations (not “churches” per se) say the legislature “may” provide for exemptions. It means it’s allowable but still must be enacted by the legislature in their respective tax codes.

Bottom line: with the passage of Amendment 2, our churches will still be protected in the Constitution, and other charities and nonprofits will be exempted in the state’s tax code (with the exact language that is in the Constitution now) and protected from change by a required 2/3 vote of both House and Senate, plus the need for the signature of the governor. And the final truth here is that not a single property that enjoys exemptions today will suddenly owe property taxes with the passage of Amendment 2.

In November, the governor set out to tackle an area that badly needed addressing in Louisiana – tax reform, which included moving anything related to the tax code out of the cluttered Constitution.

The ultimate goal is to get Louisiana to zero income tax to be more competitive with states like Texas and Florida and to simplify the complexity of the business climate to grow our economy. In just a short time, the reforms that have been undertaken have proven to be successful – Louisiana has made giant leaps in rankings in overall tax policy and business competitiveness, and the governor has announced several mega projects coming to our state because of the changes in our tax climate.

On a personal level, let me state unequivocally that I would never do anything to hurt our churches, because my faith life is important to me. I am a long time member of First Baptist Church in Lafayette, a board member of a Baptist seminary, and have a mother who has been in Christian education my entire life.

Finally, let me close by pointing out that Amendment 2 is filled with positives like teacher pay raises, debt payments, increased standard deductions for our seniors to enjoy more tax-free income, and the phasing out of harmful uncompetitive taxes for our small businesses – and that it’s a positive to shift tax matters out of the Constitution and into the tax code.