Calcasieu Parish School Board says L’Auberge owes $3M in back taxes, interest, penalties
The casino and resort has petitioned the claim with the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals.
LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The Calcasieu Parish School Board’s Sales and Use Department says L’Auberge Casino Resort owes $2 million in taxes, plus another million in interest and penalties.
L’Auberge petitioned the bill in April and is now asking the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals to let them off the hook.
KPLC reached out to L’Auberge about the appeal, which told us the following in part:
“While L’Auberge currently pays a complimentary hotel room tax unique to Calcasieu Parish, there is disagreement on a secondary tax despite no change to state or parish law.”
That unique tax has been state law since 1991, levying a tax on complimentary rooms at hotels in Calcasieu Parish.
The casino alleges the school board is charging them again by also including complimentary rooms as “sales” in their tax assessment from 2021 through 2023. They say a complimentary room isn’t a sale or trade since the guest is “not even required to step foot on the gaming floor.”
Similar petitions have been filed across the state regarding complimentary rooms. One is an appeal by the Golden Nugget in which the state tax appeals board ruled in favor of the taxing agency, saying the rooms or items were in exchange for gaming activity.
At the June 3 school board meeting, the decision was made to hire local attorney Rusty Stutes to handle the matter.
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