Measure to overturn LA\u2019s \u2018mansion tax\u2019 heads to ballot. Here\u2019s what voters should know for November<\/p>\n
The November election is set to plunge Los Angeles voters back into a heated debate around the city\u2019s \u201cmansion tax.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a city that thrives on blockbuster sequels, the November election is set to plunge Los Angeles voters back into a heated debate around the city\u2019s \u201cmansion tax.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The California secretary of state on Tuesday verified that backers of a statewide initiative to overturn the tax have collected enough signatures to place their measure on the ballot.<\/p>\n But other efforts to reform the tax<\/a> \u2014 without ending it \u2014 may also end up going before city voters. Here\u2019s what Angelenos need to know to make sense of the various efforts to re-do or nix the tax.<\/p>\n \u2018Mansion tax\u2019 basics<\/p>\n Measure ULA was passed by city voters in 2022. It raises money for tenant aid programs and affordable housing construction by taxing real estate that sells for more than $5 million, annually adjusted for inflation.<\/p>\n Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n Sign up for Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course from LAist that explains the obstacles around housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better.<\/p>\n It was widely pitched as a \u201cmansion tax.\u201d But it also applies to apartment buildings and other commercial properties. Economic studies have linked this additional cost with depressed housing development<\/a> in the city relative to other parts of Southern California without the tax.<\/p>\n Measure ULA backers dispute those findings, blaming high interest rates and other economic trends for L.A.\u2019s housing slowdown.<\/p>\n Supporters initially said the measure would raise up to $1.1 billion per year. But actual revenue has proven far lower. Three years after it first took effect, the tax has raised just over $1.1 billion total.<\/p>\n Some of that money has gone toward defending tenants in eviction court, as well as relief to struggling tenants through the city\u2019s ULA Emergency Renters Assistance Program and ULA Income Support Program.<\/p>\n On the construction side, Measure ULA has helped subsidize about 800 units of affordable housing so far. The City Council will soon take up approval of a new round of developments, largely funded by Measure ULA. In total, those new projects seek to build 1,528 units of affordable housing and preserve affordability in 3,713 existing units.<\/p>\n Proponents of the measure say these numbers prove Measure ULA is working, and voters should not exempt new apartment buildings from the tax or overturn it.<\/p>\n Joe Donlin, director of the United to House L.A. coalition, said the initiative backed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association poses a real threat to the city\u2019s progress on addressing housing affordability.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to eliminate revenue for affordable housing, the type of housing that makes it possible for working families, working people of California, to live here and work here and thrive here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The measure that just made the ballot<\/p>\n The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has opposed Measure ULA from Day 1. The organization joined a 2022 lawsuit seeking to overturn the tax, which ultimately failed.<\/p>\n In recent months, the association has been collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that seeks to invalidate Measure ULA and other such transfer taxes in cities like Berkeley, Oakland, Santa Monica and Culver City.<\/p>\n Howard Jarvis organizers turned in those signatures last month. Now, state election officials have verified the organization has collected enough signatures to put the measure on the statewide ballot.<\/p>\n The measure seeks to limit transfer taxes to no more than 0.11% (Measure ULA\u2019s tax tops out at 5.5%). It also seeks to counter recent court rulings, which have allowed California voters to pass new taxes with simple majority support as long as ballot initiatives are driven by citizens, not elected officials.<\/p>\n The measure would require future taxes to achieve more than two-thirds support from voters. Measure ULA, which was passed with nearly 58% support, would have failed to meet that threshold.<\/p>\n \u201cCalifornia is very unaffordable, and the courts have made it easier to raise taxes,\u201d said Susan Shelley, a spokesperson for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. \u201cWe don’t think that’s right, and we are going to make it harder to raise taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n