The tax increases never stop.
In 2024, Los Angeles County voters approved Measure A, which doubled an expiring 0.25% sales tax.
In June of this year, Los Angeles County voters decided they needed to be taxed even more and approved Measure ER to raise sales taxes another 0.5% for five years.
Now, in the city of Los Angeles, the firefighters are asking for yet another 0.5% with Measure FD. The measure would direct the proceeds to the fire department. The measure also includes no sunset date, so it will be a permanent tax unless some brave souls decide to pitch voters a repeal of fire department funding.
Proponents, most prominently the firefighters union, argue the measure is needed because the city’s fire department is underfunded. “The LAFD is half the size it should be to serve a population of almost 4 million people,” the campaign website declares. “The LAFD needs more fire trucks, engines, ambulances, and wildfire brush apparatus. Currently, more than 95% of the reserve fleet is out of service. This Measure will provide the lifesaving vehicles, equipment, and resources needed to keep Los Angeles safe.”
Representatives of the firefighters union elaborated on these points in a discussion with the editorial board and made a good argument that the city of Los Angeles isn’t doing an adequate job of funding their department. They point to statistics showing the city has lower per capita rates of firefighters compared to some other big cities like San Francisco, Houston, Chicago and Seattle. On the other hand, it’s ahead of cities like San Diego and San Jose.
Even so, one can imagine, based on the all-too-real threat of wildfires and the volume of EMS calls related to the homeless population, a legitimate need for the department to have better funding.
But the question is where that money should come from — and we don’t think it’s from overtaxed Angelenos. It should come from the money the Los Angeles City Council already has available. The city can no doubt find in its $15 billion annual budget enough things to cut or deprioritize when making budget decisions than the fire department.
The firefighters we spoke with expressed great frustration at the city’s refusal to prioritize them, with one arguing “the city has chosen not to invest in the fire department.” Which is indeed a damning indictment of City Hall and those on the City Council who would rather prioritize things like the Los Angeles Convention Center expansion while fumbling homelessness spending that in turn creates more work for the fire department.
But Angelenos are already highly taxed, sales taxes are the most regressive taxes of all and the focus should be on getting City Hall to better manage the money it already has. If anyone should be punished, it’s not the average low-income Angeleno but the do-nothing members of the council.
This is all to say nothing of the generous compensation packages and rising pension obligations LAFD personnel already receive — costs that guarantee at least some of the benefits of a new tax will inevitably be absorbed by union deals.
Vote no on Measure FD.