Don’t be fooled: What you need to know about LA County’s sales tax proposal

The sales tax in Los Angeles County could go up by one-half percent if a majority of voters can be frightened out of their skin into voting to raise it, again, in the June primary election.

On February 10, the Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 1 to try to trick voters into passing another increase in the sales tax, after it was raised less than two years ago. The trick is to pretend the money from the new tax increase – estimated at $1 billion per year – will be used for healthcare.

The proposal that will be on the ballot is a general tax. The money can be spent on anything. Pensions. Lawsuit settlements. Pay raises. Anything.

To pull off this trick, the supervisors approved a plan to spend the money on specific healthcare categories. It looks just like a budget commitment, but it is a non-binding statement of intention.

And in case that doesn’t work, the county’s scariest public official has been pressed into service to vouch for all the terrible things that will happen if voters fail to approve the tax increase.

“The threat is real already,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. News releases from her office warn that “a $50 million reduction in federal, state and local grant and contract revenues” is already causing significant fiscal pressures, risking a reduction or disruption in services such as vaccination, sexually transmitted infection testing, and tuberculosis testing and treatment. 

In addition to the Public Health Department, the county’s hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities and services need more money. The campaign for the tax increase is sure to emphasize your risk of a dire outcome if you don’t vote for the billion-dollar annual tax increase. 

Here’s another trick: it’s “temporary.” It will end in 2031.

Of course it will.

Recall that the temporary half-percent sales tax for transit construction, Measure R, and the temporary quarter-percent sales tax for homeless services, Measure H, were both made permanent before they expired by placing new measures on the ballot.

Measure A in November 2024 raised the sales tax in L.A. County to 9.75%, replacing the temporary quarter-percent tax with a permanent half-percent increase.

Measure A required a special law passed by the state legislature, because state law caps local sales taxes at 2% total above the state sales tax rate (highest in the nation) of 7.25%.

In 2023, Assembly Bill 1679 created an exemption from the 2% limit that allowed Measure A to raise the L.A. County sales tax rate to 9.75%. Many cities in the county have sales tax rates that are even higher. Currently in Lancaster and Palmdale, it’s 11.25%.

The proposed tax increase that would push the county sales tax to 10.25% will drive the sales tax up to 11.75% in Lancaster and Palmdale. The dozens of other cities in the county with sales taxes above 10% would also see a half-percent increase. There’s no escape from it if the legislature passes a special law to exempt the county’s proposed tax hike from the 2% limit.

And the bill has already been introduced. It is Assembly Bill 1768 from Assemblymember Isaac Bryan. It gives L.A. County permission to “exceed the limit” on local sales taxes “because of the unique fiscal pressures” that have been caused, “at least in part,” by federal funding cuts.

If you’d like to express your opinion about AB 1768, call your state representatives. You can look up their names and contact information at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Because the truth is that the money does not have to be spent on healthcare, and federal cuts to healthcare are only one part of the county’s financial problems.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who alone voted against putting the tax hike proposal on the June ballot, said the county should demand “stronger commitments” from the state and not ask voters to approve a “general tax which can be used for other County needs.”

That’s the final trick in this magic act. A special tax, with the money committed to the stated purpose, requires approval by two-thirds of voters. But a general tax that’s disguised as a special tax needs only a simple majority.

And with that, your money vanishes.

Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley