La. Supreme Court: New Orleans alcohol tax is legal

Published 9:00 am Thursday, June 28, 2018

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s Supreme Court has upheld a tax imposed by the city of New Orleans on dealers of alcoholic beverages.

Wednesday’s ruling reverses a lower court ruling in what had been a victory for a liquor-industry lobbying group and the Louisiana Restaurant Association. They had argued that the city exceeded its authority by imposing alcohol taxes in excess of what was allowed by state law.

But the high court agreed with the city that the tax is structured as an occupational license tax on dealers and is legal. It wasn’t immediately clear how much revenue the tax would bring in. City officials and the lobbying organizations didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

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The tax is applied per-gallon at various rates on different types of alcoholic beverages.