Although state Rep. Jim Tucker, R-New Orleans, recently killed a bill aimed to centralize local sales tax collections in Baton Rouge, a similar bill is still snaking through the House, causing a swarm of opposition from elected brass throughout St. Tammany Parish.

Already, the School Board, Tourism Commission and cities and towns of Slidell, Pearl River, Madisonville and Mandeville have launched objections to House Bill 440, authored by Rep. Nick Larusso, R-New Orleans. And recently Sheriff Jack Strain, the parish’s sole collector of property and sales taxes, entered the fray.

Aides late Thursday indicated Larusso was killing the bill. However, it hadn’t been pulled at presstime, according to the legislative Web site. At the center of the controversy is the bill’s design. Currently being debated in the House Ways and Means Committee, the bill would collect every local tax, both sale and property, from throughout the state, filtering the monies back to appropriate local governmental agencies. The Legislature shall have no authority to appropriate those collected monies to other projects, according to the bill.

The bill argues the state will streamline tax collections, filtering the money down to local government in a more efficient manner.

Strain, in an interview and in a memo outlining the bill’s perils, said the “grandiose” bill makes “my blood boil.”

“Local taxes are the mother’s milk of anything that happens in St. Tammany,” Strain said. “It’s paradoxical to assume you can streamline a layer of government by adding another layer of government to it.”

Strain cited examples:

• House Bill 440 argues tax collections will be filtered back to local governmental agencies in 30 days. Strain now disburses the taxes to Slidell, Mandeville and Covington on a daily basis, he said.

• If approved, the bill would also offer quarterly reports of collected taxes and delinquency reports. Strain’s office already provides those updates daily and monthly, he said.

• Taxpayers with questions about their bills or refunds must converse with the state Board of Tax Appeals in Baton Rouge under the proposed legislation. Currently, residents can write, e-mail or visit the Sheriff’s Office Covington tax collection office in person, often with same day results.

“Anytime we fool with the state it takes three or four times to get it right,” said St. Tammany Parish Councilman Marty Gould, who authored a resolution opposing the bill. “I thought there was a push in Baton Rouge to shrink government. To me this doesn’t seem like shrinking government.”

“I can’t think of one rational basis for this other than they want to control everything,” Gould continued. “They need to keep their fingers off our money.”

The backlash has even reached the attention of other state legislators. State Rep. Greg Cromer, R-Slidell, and Sen. Julie Quinn, R-Metairie, have each publicly opposed the measure, saying they will likely vote against the bill.

Meanwhile, Strain questioned why the state would want to collect the money. He acknowledged many parishes do not collect their own taxes and the bill may ease burdens in those areas, but with $400 million collected last year in St. Tammany sales and property taxes, he understands the draw. In comparison, he said the state collected roughly half that, a little more than $200 million.

“If I was the state, I would like to get my hands on that money, too,” Strain said.

The bill could also pave way for more big box retailers to enter St. Tammany, Strain said. If approved, small businesses that make St. Tammany unique would have to credit sales taxes to a different agency, possibly confusing bookkeepers parishwide. Meanwhile, big box retailers or large chains with stores statewide would likely prefer to send sales tax collections to one destination, a move attractive in doing business with the state, he said.

“They don’t kneel at the same church, shop in the same stores, eat in our restaurants,” Strain said. “I don’t know anybody that knows the complexities of collecting taxes.”