Louisiana Luxury Tax Token

[RickyP]

Found another token but I think this one has seen better days

 

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[Juanmoretime]

Fertilizer is a bad thing on La. tokens!!! Lol!

Steve

 

[NOLA_Ken]

dug one of those a few days ago, but it was completely smoked. I have a bunch of them in really good shape (non-dug) though, pretty neat tokens.

 

[mandad76]

Got a few of those too - but most are not in very good shape. Nice find!

 

[Mackaydon]

Some history:
Louisiana Tax Tokens were used to collect sales tax of fractions of a cent.
• One Mill is 1/10th of a cent.
• Five Mills is 1/2 cent.
The first tax tokens issued by the state of Louisiana were in conjunction with the Luxury Tax Act of 1936.
It was termed "Luxury Tax" because of the numerous exemptions. Although the law specifically exempted about seventy-five items from the tax, the state released an expanded list of exemptions.
This list included such items as alcoholic beverages, bottle openers, cigars, lawn mowers, maple syrup, and plum pudding. Merchants and consumers claimed it was confusing because it taxed articles as necessities while exempting some classed as luxuries.
The tokens were released on October 1, 1936 and within ten days more than four million tokens were in circulation in the New Orleans area alone. The Luxury Tax Act of 1936 was repealed by the Public Welfare Revenue Act of 1938. All Luxury Tax tokens were to be withdrawn with a deadline for redemption of December 31, 1938.
While the Public Welfare Revenue Act reduced the tax rate to 1% and contained fewer exemptions than its predecessor, it was no more popular. One of the campaign issues in the 1939 Governor's race was abolition of the Public Welfare tax. As a result, Governor Sam Jones approved repeal of the act on July 9, 1940, effective December 31, 1940.
Eight million five mill and forty-nine million one mill tokens were issued for this tax. Final redemption of the tokens took place March 31, 1941, and fewer than seven million tokens were returned.
Don....

 

[NOLA_Ken]

I just dug mine out.....I have:
Louisiana..
3 luxury tax 5 mill made of brass I think
2 welfare tax 5 mill also brass
14 public welfare 1 mill
13 luxury 1 mill

2 Mississippi 1 mill sales tax
2 Alabama 1 mill luxury tax
1 Alabama 1 mill sales tax

Most of them look as good as the day they were made. I thought I had something rare when I found them, but the value range seems to be around 25 cents each I still think they are really cool though.

 

[wheatfinder13]

I just dug one yesterday

 

[Bass]

Some history:
Louisiana Tax Tokens were used to collect sales tax of fractions of a cent.
• One Mill is 1/10th of a cent.
• Five Mills is 1/2 cent.
The first tax tokens issued by the state of Louisiana were in conjunction with the Luxury Tax Act of 1936.
It was termed "Luxury Tax" because of the numerous exemptions. Although the law specifically exempted about seventy-five items from the tax, the state released an expanded list of exemptions.
This list included such items as alcoholic beverages, bottle openers, cigars, lawn mowers, maple syrup, and plum pudding. Merchants and consumers claimed it was confusing because it taxed articles as necessities while exempting some classed as luxuries.
The tokens were released on October 1, 1936 and within ten days more than four million tokens were in circulation in the New Orleans area alone. The Luxury Tax Act of 1936 was repealed by the Public Welfare Revenue Act of 1938. All Luxury Tax tokens were to be withdrawn with a deadline for redemption of December 31, 1938.
While the Public Welfare Revenue Act reduced the tax rate to 1% and contained fewer exemptions than its predecessor, it was no more popular. One of the campaign issues in the 1939 Governor's race was abolition of the Public Welfare tax. As a result, Governor Sam Jones approved repeal of the act on July 9, 1940, effective December 31, 1940.
Eight million five mill and forty-nine million one mill tokens were issued for this tax. Final redemption of the tokens took place March 31, 1941, and fewer than seven million tokens were returned.
Don....

Mackaydon, thanks for the education about these tax tokens. Up till now it was clear as mud for me but now i understand how they were used.

 

[digginla.]

1 have a 1 mill and 5 mill lux tax from la . Not worth nothin but glad to havem!!