Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation allowing local politicians to push sales tax rates to 11.25% in California\u2014adding another cost to families already struggling with the state\u2019s affordability crisis. <\/p>\n
AB 1768 allows Los Angeles and Contra Costa counties to exceed California\u2019s existing 2% cap on local transactions and use taxes. The law authorizes Los Angeles County to impose an additional tax of up to 0.5% and Contra Costa County to impose an additional tax of up to 0.625%. <\/p>\n
\u201cGavin Newsom and California Democrats caused our cost-of-living crisis, and now they are giving local politicians another way to raise taxes on working families,\u201d said Reform California Chairman and State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Newsom Removes the Taxpayer Protection Cap <\/p>\n
California law limits the combined local transactions and uses taxes imposed within a county to 2%. AB 1768 creates an exemption from that limit specifically for Los Angeles and Contra Costa counties. <\/p>\n
The legislation allows the counties to place additional sales tax increases before voters through December 31, 2031. The bill was passed as an urgency measure and took effect immediately after Newsom signed it on June 1, 2026. <\/p>\n
Officials with the City of Beverly Hills opposed the bill warning Newsom that the legislation could push the total sales tax rate to as high as 11.25% in some Los Angeles County communities. <\/p>\n
The city also warned that another sales tax increase would burden residents and small businesses, discourage consumer spending, and place local retailers at a competitive disadvantage. <\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia families are already paying some of the highest taxes in the country,\u201d DeMaio said. \u201cInstead of cutting waste and fixing government, Newsom and California Democrats keep changing the rules so politicians can demand even more money from taxpayers.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sales Taxes Hit Working Families Hardest <\/p>\n
Unlike income taxes, sales taxes are imposed whenever consumers purchase taxable products, regardless of how much money they earn. <\/p>\n
That means working families and lower-income Californians are forced to spend a larger portion of their income paying the tax. Small businesses are also affected when higher prices discourage customers from making purchases or push them to shop in lower-tax communities. <\/p>\n
AB 1768 follows a growing pattern of Newsom and state lawmakers granting exemptions from California\u2019s local sales tax cap. In 2025, Newsom signed three additional bills allowing local governments or regional agencies to exceed the cap and pursue higher sales taxes. <\/p>\n
Prop 43 Would Make Local Tax Hikes Harder to Pass <\/p>\n
DeMaio says Californians can fight back by passing Proposition 43\u2014the Save Prop 13 Taxpayer Protection Initiative\u2014in the November 2026 election. <\/p>\n
Prop 43 would restore the two-thirds vote requirement for local special tax measures, closing a loophole that allows local politicians and special interests to pass certain tax increases with only a simple majority. <\/p>\n
\u201cCalifornia politicians will never stop raising taxes unless voters take away their ability to manipulate the rules,\u201d DeMaio said. \u201cProp 43 will restore taxpayer protections and make it harder for local politicians to impose an outrageous 11.25% sales tax.\u201d <\/p>\n
California Democrats caused the state\u2019s cost-of-living crisis, but voters have the power to stop them. <\/p>\n
Join the fight to pass Prop 43 and block higher sales taxes in your community at OpposeTaxHikes.org. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation allowing local politicians to push sales tax rates to 11.25% in California\u2014adding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-401222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}