A typical LA family will have to pay $200 per year, or more, to LA County in additional taxes this year — thanks to the new sales tax hike that went into effect Oct. 1.

How’s that for “affordability“?

In June, the voters of Los Angeles County approved Measure ER, to raise the county sales tax by 0.5%.

The supporters of tax increases always say there is either some crisis being addressed, or some great humanitarian cause being confronted. They never are forthright about the amount that will be raised or what the cost is to the average taxpayer.

In this case, the cause was the supposed “massive” cuts in Medi-Cal funding coming from the federal government. Those assertions came before there were significant efforts to uncover fraud in the program.  Since that time, extensive fraud has been discovered in pharmacy billing, hospice billing, and other provider charges.  

The measure was formally put on the ballot by the county’s Board of Supervisors.  In reality, the sponsors were a laundry list of organizations that would be benefiting from these funds as described in the measure. 

The funds are not going to be segregated for health care, as described in the ballot measure. The monies go into the county general fund. That means they are in a slush fund, where by definition they can be used for whatever purpose the supervisors deem fit. 

And if the federal funding is not cut to the level that the supporters of Measure ER told the voters it would be, the new sales tax receipts can be spent on anything.

While the Democrats are making the cost of living the focus of their 2026 campaign, this new tax certainly does not make things more affordable for the taxpayers. 

The LA area is frequently ranked as the No. 1 worst area for affordability in the country.  This additional cost will just be thrown on the bill pile.  

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With the average family income of $128,700 in the county, we can suppose that about $40,000 of that is subject to sales tax, and the annual cost of the new sales tax hike will amount to an additional $200 per year. 

Some may think that is not a lot, but again — throw it on the pile.  When you are already paying about $3,900 a year in sales taxes, why would you want to pay more? And the $200 does not include big-ticket items like automobiles, where the additional tax on the average car would be $250.   

California already has the second-highst cost of living, after Hawaii. California already has the highest gas tax. These are the kind of costs that are already pushing Californians to move to other states.

If you take the sales tax rate of LA County and you compare it to the top states Californians are currently relocating to, then you get a clearer picture. 

In Texas, sales tax is 8.25%. In Arizona, sales tax is 5.6%. In Nevada, sales tax is 6.85%. In Washington, sales tax is 6.5%. In Florida sales tax is 6%. 

As you can see there were already significant savings in other states before Oct. 1.  Raising the local sales tax rate makes LA even less competitive. 

The people who wanted this tax ran their fear campaign and convinced the voters that this needed to be passed. Out of two million voters, the Measure won by less than 26,000 votes. 

The measure says it is only for five years, but does anyone really believe that? The powers-that-be will run another fear campaign, extending the new rate to make it permanent.  

In 2000, the LA County sales tax rate was 8.25%. It has increased 2% in 25 years. 

Does anyone believe a rate reduction will happen in five years? Not anyone with a brain.  

Bruce Bialosky, a former presidential appointee, is a certified public accountant specializing in taxes.