Posted on 11/11/2022 9:12:29 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Believe it or not, California thinks it has a solution to the homelessness problem that can be solved with additional taxation! Go figure.
A new measure in Los Angeles, called Measure ULA, is set to generate $900 million in taxes that will then be used for housing subsidies and tenant protections. The tax is essentially a levy on all property sales of more than $5 million, according to Bloomberg.
This "mansion tax", if it passes, will look to "speed new construction and deliver a way out of the city’s spiraling homelessness crisis", according to Bloomberg. It could generate some $900 million per year to provide infrastructure like affordable homes and tools like counsel for tenants in eviction courts.
Laura Raymond, director of the nonprofit Alliance for Community Transit–Los Angeles, told Bloomberg: “This would be the biggest investment in tenant protections in the history of LA."
Yes, and it would be another reason on a long list of reasons for Californians to continue their exodus from the state to greener tax pastures like Florida and Texas.
She continued: "“We want to make sure that once this has passed, the housing experts, community organizations, community leaders and people who’ve been doing this work for many years are at the forefront of implementation."
Meanwhile critics of the bill say it could ultimately wind up causing costs for developers and, subsequently rents, to rise. The city had tried to issue a bond in 2016 to provide the same type of relief, but that measure was "lackluster" in its success, the report says.
Bloomberg explains the new tax:
The current .45% transfer tax for all properties would jump to 4% for sales of more than $5 million, while transactions that top $10 million would garner a tax of 5.5%. It’s a special tax, meaning revenues don’t go into the city’s general fund but rather a dedicated purse. There’s a set-aside of 8% of revenues for an inspector general and oversight staff; the rest goes toward housing. The split for these funds is 70% for affordable housing (construction, subsidies and preservation) and 30% for homelessness prevention (various measures and tenant protections).
“We’re talking about very, very high-wealth individuals, but even more so large real estate corporations that honestly have not been paying their fair share, and have been making a killing off of this housing market as it is now," Raymond continued.
Affordable housing builders would be obvious beneficiaries from the tax, which will generate $600 million to $1.1 billion per year, bolstering subsidies for such developments.
Critics of the bill state the obvious: that it will disincentivize developers from building in Los Angeles. But "researchers" at UCLA are skeptical about the disincentives.
Shane Phillips, housing initiative project manager for the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies and co-author on a series of studies focused on Measure ULA and transfer taxes, offered up his best "modern monetary theory"-style explanation, telling Bloomberg: “That money has to come from somewhere. It’s not going to come from the buyer or renter. So the place it’s going to come from is the owner of the land from whom the developer buys the property.”
Raymond concluded: “In the past, we’ve had politicians get behind one solution. Right now we see criminalization of homelessness as being a major focus. That’s where they’ve poured a lot of their energy over the last couple of years, sweeping the streets. This is very different from that type of approach.”
You can read more about the details of the tax here.
Another fraud that will end up in Crony Pockets and will not solve one thing for homeless people.
5 mil will get you a 2 room flat on pacific beach
“ It’s a special tax, meaning revenues don’t go into the city’s general fund but rather a dedicated purse. ”
LMAO
I remember when Social Security funds didn’t going to the general fund and work for a dedicated purpose.
That didn’t last long.
Usually, more taxes; it fixes everything. /Democrat platform
We all know what should be done with them. They should all be rousted out and sent on a one-way "camping" trip.
“We want to make sure that once this has passed, the housing experts, community organizations, community leaders and people who’ve been doing this work for many years are at the forefront of implementation.”
This is where the money is going. The usual grifters and crooks.
Kick the effin homeless out.
They don’t produce anything of substantive use to society nor pay excessive taxes...
Lefties are fraudsters and nothing else.
Too bad we elected them to public office.
It will be only a few years until California imposes a Dr. Zhivago-type mansion “tax”.
only thing for sure
they will get more homeless
4% for sales of more than $5 million, while transactions that top $10 million would garner a tax of 5.5%
= = =
Why not just say that a 5 or 10 mil house will dedicate 4% (or 5.5%) of its floor space to house the homeless.
A 10,000 sq ft house would allot 400 sq ft for the homeless. That is about 20 x 20 feet. Kind of like a 2 car garage. Put them in the garage. Tell Karen Bass to propose this.
It might take 7 million.
Newsom’s policy, take from the rich and keep it.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly!
Wish I could post the iconic image of the relevant scene, where Dr. Zhivago welcomes the rabble who have already set up an encampment in this house, and is aggressively rebuffed and rebuked for his arrogance!
Regards,
“She continued: ““We want to make sure that once this has passed, the housing experts, community organizations, community leaders and people who’ve been doing this work for many years are at the forefront of implementation.”
+++++
Which translates into “I think we have found a new source to use to line our pockets with tax-payer funds”.
Don’t care. Tax them to the highest extent. they voted for this and they can live with it. I no longer worry about these little cities and they’re high taxes. till they learn to vote properly, they can suffer and I hope taxes goes to 90%. the voters want it.
We have a DRUG problem! Those "homeless" don't want a home, they want drugs and people to leave them alone.
Solve the DRUG problem, and the "homeless" problem no longer exists.
Bada bing
But if course, you'd loose yet another thing the 'rats have promised to fix.
They don't want to "fix" anything; they want people to depend on them for everything.....
But you already know that.
There not going to be able to solve the homelessness problem they let it get out of hand now LA is a mecca for every doper slackers and drunks.
The city gives them about $600.00 a month talk about a magnet the only answer to their problem is tent cities in the desert.
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