Louisiana indexes its standard deduction for the first time
The 2024 reform's annual CPI adjustment takes effect, lifting the combined personal exemption-standard deduction from $12,500 to $12,875 single and $25,000 to $25,750 joint.
Louisiana’s 2024 tax reform did two things at once: it replaced a three-band schedule with a flat 3%, and it nearly tripled the standard deduction from $4,500 to $12,500. It also provided for that deduction to be adjusted annually for inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers, with the first adjustment due on January 1, 2026.
That adjustment has now happened. The Department of Revenue’s withholding tables for 2026 print the new figures: $12,875 for a single filer or married filing separately, and $25,750 for married filing jointly, a qualifying surviving spouse or head of household — a rise of 3.0%.
The same indexing applies to the retirement income exemption for people aged 65 and over, which the reform doubled to $12,000.
Anything still quoting Louisiana’s deduction as $12,500 is using the 2025 figure. The rate itself is unchanged at a flat 3%, though withholding continues to be computed at 3.09% so that fewer filers end up owing a balance.