Los Angeles County voters have been asked once again to open their wallets for another tax increase, this time in the form of Measure A. On the surface, it promises to fund homelessness prevention and affordable housing projects, but beneath the shiny packaging lies a fiscal nightmare. The county has a well-documented history of mismanaging the public funds it collects, and taxpayers should not be fooled into thinking this new measure will be any different.
The issue with Measure A is not just about raising taxes. It’s about the lack of accountability, the regressive nature of the tax itself, and the permanent nature of this increase. California already has one of the highest state-level sales tax rates in the country. In many cities within Los Angeles County, that number already exceeds 10%. Measure A would push sales taxes even higher, hitting low- and middle-income families the hardest. These are the very people who are already struggling with soaring inflation and the ever-increasing cost of living.
The main problem here is that this isn’t just a temporary tax hike to address an urgent need. Measure A is forever. There’s no sunset clause, meaning once this tax is in place, it will be with us permanently, draining billions from taxpayers with no end in sight. Even worse, the measure lacks any real oversight or accountability. Three committees are set to oversee the spending of these funds, but they conspicuously exclude participation from the business community. Instead, the committees are dominated by not-for-profit housing groups that stand to benefit directly from the tax revenues—hardly the recipe for objective oversight.
Then there’s the issue of efficiency. All projects funded by Measure A are required to use prevailing wages and Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which are known to inflate construction costs and slow down progress. A study by RAND found that similar requirements under Measure HHH increased costs by 15%, resulting in fewer housing units being built. In a city facing a severe housing crisis, the last thing we need is to build fewer homes at a higher cost.
Click here to read the article in the Los Angeles Daily News.