§4. Income Tax; Severance Tax; Political Subdivisions

            Section 4.(A) Income Tax. Equal and uniform taxes may be levied on net incomes, and these taxes may be graduated according to the amount of net income. However, the maximum state individual rate shall not exceed four and three-quarters percent for tax years beginning after December 31, 2021. Federal income taxes paid may be allowed as a deductible item in computing state income taxes for the same period as provided by law.

            (B) Severance Tax. (1) Taxes may be levied on natural resources severed from the soil or water, to be paid proportionately by the owners thereof at the time of severance. Natural resources may be classified for the purpose of taxation. Such taxes may be predicated upon either the quantity or value of the products at the time and place of severance. No further or additional tax or license shall be levied or imposed upon oil, gas, or sulphur leases or rights. No additional value shall be added to the assessment of land by reason of the presence of oil, gas, or sulphur therein or their production therefrom. However, sulphur in place shall be assessed for ad valorem taxation to the person, firm, or corporation having the right to mine or produce the same in the parish where located, at no more than twice the total assessed value of the physical property subject to taxation, excluding the assessed value of sulphur above ground, as is used in sulphur operations in such parish. Likewise, the severance tax shall be the only tax on timber; however, standing timber shall be liable equally with the land on which it stands for ad valorem taxes levied on the land.

            (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (1) of this Paragraph, the presence of oil or gas or the production thereof, may be included in the methodology to determine the fair market value of an oil or gas well for ad valorem taxes.

            (C) Political Subdivisions; Prohibitions. A political subdivision of the state shall not levy a severance tax, income tax, inheritance tax, or tax on motor fuel.

            (D)(1) Severance Tax Allocation. One-third of the sulphur severance tax, but not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars; one-third of the lignite severance tax, but not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars; one-fifth of the severance tax on all natural resources, other than sulphur, lignite, or timber, but not to exceed five hundred thousand dollars; and three-fourths of the timber severance tax shall be remitted to the governing authority of the parish in which severance or production occurs.

            (2) Effective July 1, 1999, one-third of the sulphur severance tax, but not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars; one-third of the lignite severance tax, but not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars; one-fifth of the severance tax on all natural resources, other than sulphur, lignite, or timber, but not to exceed seven hundred fifty thousand dollars; and three-fourths of the timber severance tax shall be remitted to the governing authority of the parish in which severance or production occurs.

            (3) Effective July 1, 2007, one-fifth of the severance tax on all natural resources other than sulphur, lignite, or timber shall be remitted to the governing authority of the parish in which severance or production occurs. The initial maximum amount remitted to the parish in which severance or production occurs shall not exceed eight hundred fifty thousand dollars. The maximum amount remitted shall be increased each July first, beginning in 2008, by an amount equal to the average annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, as published by the United States Department of Labor, for the previous calendar year, as calculated and adopted by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

            (4) Effective April 1, 2012, the provisions of this Subparagraph shall be implemented if and when the last official forecast of revenues adopted for a fiscal year before the start of that fiscal year contains an estimate of severance tax revenues derived from natural resources other than sulphur, lignite, or timber in an amount which exceeds the actual severance tax revenues from such natural resources collected in Fiscal Year 2008-2009. Upon the adoption of such official forecast, the Revenue Estimating Conference shall certify that the requirements for the implementation of the provisions contained in this Subparagraph have been met. In such event, the following distributions and allocations of severance tax revenues and other revenues provided in this Subparagraph shall be effective and implemented for the fiscal year for which the official forecast was adopted, and each year thereafter. The legislature shall provide by law for the administrative procedures necessary to change the severance tax allocation to parishes from a calendar year basis to a fiscal year basis.

            (a) Remittance to parishes.

            (i) In the first fiscal year of implementation of this Subparagraph, the maximum amount of severance tax on all natural resources other than sulphur, lignite, or timber which is remitted to the parish in which severance or production occurs shall not exceed one million eight hundred fifty thousand dollars. For all subsequent fiscal years, the maximum amount remitted to a parish shall not exceed two million eight hundred fifty thousand dollars.

            (ii) On July first of each year the maximum amount remitted to the parish in which severance or production occurs, as provided in Item (i) of this Subsubparagraph, shall be increased by an amount equal to the average annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers for the previous calendar year, as published by the United States Department of Labor, which amount shall be as calculated and adopted by the Revenue Estimating Conference.

            (iii) Of the total amount of severance tax revenues remitted in a fiscal year to a parish governing authority pursuant to the provisions of this Subparagraph, any portion which is in excess of the amount of such tax revenues remitted to that parish in Fiscal Year 2011-2012 shall be known as "excess severance tax". At least fifty percent of the excess severance tax received by a parish governing authority in a fiscal year shall be expended within the parish in the same manner and for the same purposes as monies received by the parish from the Parish Transportation Fund.

            (b) Repealed by Acts 2023, No. 199, §1, eff. Dec. 21, 2023.

            (E) Royalties Allocation. One-tenth of the royalties from mineral leases on state-owned land, lake and river beds and other water bottoms belonging to the state or the title to which is in the public for mineral development shall be remitted to the governing authority of the parish in which severance or production occurs. A parish governing authority may fund these royalties into general obligation bonds of the parish in accordance with law. The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to properties comprising the Russell Sage Wildlife and Game Refuge.

            Amended by Acts 1990, No. 1100, §1, approved Oct. 6, 1990, eff. Aug. 1, 1990; Acts 1990, No. 1105, §1, approved Oct. 6, 1990, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 1499, §1, approved Oct. 3, 1998, eff. Nov. 5, 1998; Acts 2002, No. 88, approved Nov. 5, 2002, eff. Jan. 1, 2003; Acts 2006, No. 864, §1, approved Nov. 7, 2006, eff. Dec. 11, 2006; Acts 2009, No. 541, §1, approved Nov. 2, 2010, eff. April 1, 2012; Acts 2020, No. 368, §1, approved Nov. 3, 2020; Acts 2021, No. 134, §1, approved Nov. 13, 2021; Acts 2023, No. 199, §1, approved Nov. 18, 2023, eff. Dec. 21, 2023.