Amendment 6: Additional Property Tax Exemption for Homeowners Age 65 and Older
Statewide — all of Louisiana
General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
- Referred to the ballot by the Louisiana Legislature as House Bill 514 (Act 274), sponsored by Rep. Les Farnum (R); amendments require a two-thirds vote of each chamber and no gubernatorial signature. The House passed it 93-0 and the Senate 34-0 (per the bill history).[1][3]
The question on the ballot
Do you support an amendment to authorize parishes and municipalities to extend an additional property tax exemption for property subject to the homestead exemption that is owned and occupied by a person who is at least sixty-five years of age and who qualifies for the special assessment level? (Effective January 1, 2028) (Adds Article VII, Section 21(P))[2][5]
The amendment would let a parish or municipality, if a majority of its voters approve at a local election, grant an additional exemption on homestead property owned and occupied by a person aged 65 or older who qualifies for the special assessment level (the property-tax freeze). The additional exempt assessed value rises with age: $6,000 for ages 65-68, $12,000 for 69-72, $18,000 for 73-76, $24,000 for 77-80 and $30,000 for 81 and older (equal to $60,000 to $300,000 of fair market value). A surviving spouse who continues to occupy and own the property, and is not more than five years younger than the owner, would keep eligibility. The taxing authority must absorb the lost revenue. Fiscal impact (Legislative Fiscal Office): "an indeterminable but significant decrease in ad valorem tax revenues to local taxing authorities to the extent that the exemptions are approved through local elections," plus indeterminable, possibly significant statewide costs for assessors to administer age tiers; nearly 200,000 taxpayers currently claim the special assessment level because they are 65 or older.[3][4]
A YES vote means
Allows parishes and municipalities, with local voter approval, to grant an additional age-graduated homestead property tax exemption (up to $30,000 of assessed value) to owners aged 65 or older who qualify for the special assessment level, effective January 1, 2028.
A NO vote means
Does not add this optional exemption to the Constitution; homeowners 65 and older keep the existing homestead exemption and the special assessment level only.
The law today
Homeowners receive a homestead exemption on the first $7,500 of assessed value ($75,000 of market value). Homeowners 65 and older who qualify for the special assessment level (an assessment freeze) receive the freeze on assessed value, which is not an additional age-based exemption.[4][5]
Official fiscal estimate
The Legislative Fiscal Office projects "an indeterminable but significant decrease in ad valorem tax revenues to local taxing authorities to the extent that the exemptions are approved through local elections," and indeterminable costs to parish assessors that it assumes "may be significant at the aggregate, statewide level."[4]
Arguments made for
- None found in public sources.
Arguments made against
- None found in public sources.
Research notes & limits
Ballot question text is the proposition printed in the enrolled joint resolution, which directs that it be placed on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot; vote counts, Act numbers and fiscal information are from the Louisiana Legislature's bill pages, résumé digests and Legislative Fiscal Office notes. The Louisiana Secretary of State's certified list could not be loaded (sos.la.gov election pages returned 404 on Oct 19, 2026), so the Amendment 1-10 numbering and the question wording were checked against the nonpartisan PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments, which lists the same ten amendments in the same order with the same question text; the parenthetical effective-date and constitutional-citation text follows the enrolled resolution. Louisiana has no citizen initiative and publishes no voter-pamphlet arguments; a majority of votes cast approves an amendment. No supporting or opposing arguments or campaign committees were found; the bill passed with no recorded no votes. Ballotpedia's page for this amendment cites the bill as HB 521 in one place; the legislature's records show HB 514 (Act 274) for this proposition and HB 521 (Act 273) for Amendment 2. Enrichment (Oct 19): current law and fiscal impact are drawn from the enrolled-version Legislative Fiscal Office notes (or the Legislative Auditor's actuarial note for Amendment 5) and the PAR guide; Amendments 4 and 8 have no fiscal note. PAR's guide gives unattributed 'argument for/against' summaries rather than quotes from named people or groups, so they are not used as arguments. No registered campaign committees or campaign-finance filings were found for any of these amendments.
Sources · 5
Researched 2026-10-19. Green citations are official government records.
- 1.HB 514 (Act 274), bill history and votes · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 2.Enrolled HB 514: joint resolution and ballot proposition · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 3.Résumé Digest, Act 274 (HB 514) · Louisiana Legislature Official record
- 4.Legislative Fiscal Office fiscal note, enrolled HB 514 · Louisiana Legislative Fiscal Office Official record
- 5.PAR Guide to the Fall 2026 Constitutional Amendments · Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana · 2026-10 Reference