City of New Orleans Collects over $460,000 in Expired Taxes
This week, reports surfaced showing the city of New Orleans erroneously collected more than $460,000 from an expired French Quarter sales tax. Now that this money has been taken unnecessarily from consumers, the city of New Orleans is stuck with it and can’t even spend it. Will they give the money back to taxpayers instead? Unlikely.
Nola.com reported:
The tax, sometimes known as “quarter for the Quarter,” was a 0.25% sales tax applied to French Quarter businesses from 2016 until it expired last December. The tax was levied by the French Quarter Economic Development District — a state-created agency governed by the New Orleans City Council — and collected by the city on its behalf.
(Executive Director Brittany Mulla) McGovern argued that the city is to blame for failing to notify businesses that the tax was expiring and for continuing to list the tax on a form filled out by businesses when they remit taxes.
