The Los Angeles City Council wants voters to approve one or more tax increases in March to help offset the city’s perennially negative budget. The proposals include increasing sales, property, real estate, and parking taxes.
But the city will not launch blindly into the revenue campaign. Next week, roughly three-dozen cities are asking their residents to approve sales tax increases. Should a positive trend emerge in those votes, Council President Herb Wesson hopes that the city will move forward. But if sales taxes fair poorly with the electorate, it is possible the city would look to several, smaller taxes.
Currently, the city’s 8.75 percent sales tax is lower than areas like Santa Monica and Inglewood. The proposed half-cent tax would raise it to 9.25 percent. No word, at this time, how the City’s plans could be impacted should Proposition 30 pass, raising the state’s sales tax rate by another quarter of a cent.
Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times.