New LA county sales tax hike takes impact, hitting…
LA County’s new sales tax hit money registers Thursday, tacking an additional half-cent onto every taxable greenback Angelenos spend after a sneaky $10 million union marketing campaign slammed as “deceitful.”
The countywide charge jumped from 9.75% to 10.25%, with even increased charges in cities including West Hollywood and Santa Monica.
That’s 50 cents more on every $100 in taxable purchases and $5 more on every $1,000 – so a household that spends $100,000 a 12 months will hand out an further additional $500. Drive a $40,000 car off the lot, and the tax hike provides another $200.
Shoppers stroll along the Third Street Promenade, Thursday, October 1, 2026, in Santa Monica, California. London Entertainment
The tax, which was billed as Measure ER when it was positioned on the poll, noticed county leaders promise the money would keep hospitals and clinics “open after Washington slashed health care funding.”
The Democrat-controlled LA County Board of Supervisors, the five-member physique that runs county authorities, put the measure on the poll.
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, from left, Kathryn Barger, Janice Hahn, Hilda Solis, Lindsey Horvath and Holly Mitchell. LA County BOS
The board voted 4-1 to ship the tax to voters, with Republican Supervisor Kathryn Barger the lone dissenter.
Measure ER squeaked through in June, 50.64% to 49.36% – just 25,770 votes separating the 1,013,747 who backed the measure from the 987,977 who opposed it.
The tax will suck roughly $1 billion a 12 months out of buyers’ pockets and about $5 billion before the measure finally expires in 2031.
Shoppers along the Third Street Promenade really feel the pinch of an elevated sales tax on their purchases, Thursday, October 1, 2026, in Santa Monica, California. London Entertainment
Aidan Chao, chairman of the Los Angeles County Taxpayers Association, said Angelenos voted for Measure ER because of a shiny, misleading practically $10 million special-interest marketing campaign backed by health care teams and organized labor.
“They deceived the community into thinking this was a medically focused measure that was all about beating Trump, when in fact it was a new tax that will never go away and will cost families from the low hundreds to $1,000 a year,” he told the California Post.
“It’s not a restrictive short-term health tax with a sunset clause; it’s a broad, general forever tax,” he added.
“These taxes are never narrow and short-term; they never go away.”
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“This needs to be a wake-up call to Angelenos and Californians that they can’t continue to be bribed. They can’t be for sale.”
Measure ER has inflated the sales tax in cities like West Hollywood and Pasadena to 11% and Santa Monica to 11.25%, as each metropolis already had further local sales taxes.
“I’d like to know more about where the taxes go. Obviously, I think everyone would like to know,” Nikita Levin, 27, who was procuring at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on Thursday, told The Post.
Shoppers along the Third Street Promenade really feel the pinch of an elevated sales tax on their purchases. London Entertainment
For comparability, the sales tax charge is 7% in Miami, 8.25% in Austin and Houston, and just under 9% in New York City.
Restaurant meals get hit, too, while most groceries and prescribed drugs are exempt.
Critics argue the tax hits lower-income residents the toughest because it eats up a bigger share of smaller paychecks — one motive taxpayer teams and some local Democrats opposed it.
The increase is LA County’s second sales tax hike in less than two years.
Voters accepted Measure A, a half-cent homelessness tax, in 2024, amid complaints from some smaller cities that they pay far more into this system than they get back.
Backers pitched Measure ER as a lifeline for hospitals and clinics battered by Medi-Cal funding cuts, with the poll warning that the county’s 4 public hospitals could possibly be at risk of closure.
Shoppers stroll along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. Shoppers are feeling the pinch of an elevated sales tax on their purchases. London Entertainment
But despite the pitch, there’s truly no requirement for the county to spend a dime of the money on health care.
The tax income flows into the county’s normal fund, leaving supervisors free to spend it elsewhere.
This made Measure ER simpler to go because it only needed a simple majority, relatively than requiring two-thirds of the vote if it was legally earmarked for health care — a threshold ER fell far short of.
Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis led the push for the tax, with Mitchell calling it a “last resort” as the county had already frozen hiring, cut time beyond regulation and dipped into emergency reserves.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger wasn’t shopping for it, warning there was “no certainty that the dollars will be spent as intended” and that residents are “already carrying one of the heaviest tax burdens” of any major area in the nation.
Groups that may benefit from the money largely bankrolled the marketing campaign. St. John’s Community Health, the nonprofit clinic community that spearheaded the push, contributed at least $4 million.
Marcus Calbert and other buyers are seen along the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. Shoppers are feeling the pinch of an elevated sales tax on their purchases. London Entertainment
SEIU Local 721, which represents county employees, kicked in $200,000 and says the tax will defend 1000’s of members’ jobs.
The California Community Foundation added $200,000, while the Los Angeles County Medical Association’s political motion committee contributed $50,000.
The Yes marketing campaign finally raised about $9.7 million, while opponents raised less than $10,000.
Then, a day before the tax took impact, got here a new problem: The Libertarian Party of LA County, which advocates decrease taxes and smaller authorities, sued to overturn it.
The lawsuit received’t stop buyers from paying the upper tax, but it has frozen the county’s capacity to spend the money while the legal battle performs out. The income must instead be held in escrow pending the result of the case.
Scott Meyers, a Republican working for Congress in California’s thirtieth District, which incorporates elements of LA County including Burbank, Glendale and the Hollywood Hills, blasted Measure ER as “yet another ballot proposition that was deceitfully advertised.”
“It was marketed as a promise of direct assistance to emergency rooms and emergency medical technicians. Instead, the taxes raised go directly into the County’s general fund. It’s yet another tax on money we’ve already been taxed on.”
“It appears most voters are more willing to surrender their earnings to government than to ever ask how their government is spending their money.”
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