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Posted on 03/08/2026 8:13:44 PM PDT by Angelino97
This year California voters will choose a new governor, fill other statewide offices, elect 100 state legislators and 52 members of Congress and weigh an array of knotty ballot measures.
Meanwhile, officials in the state’s largest urban centers, Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area, will test voters’ appetite for raising sales tax rates — already among the nation’s highest, — to levels never before seen in California.
Los Angeles officials are asking voters in the June primary election to add another half percentage point to rates that already top 10% in most of the county’s cities, raising money to offset reductions in federal health care spending.
And voters in four Bay Area counties will decide in November whether to add another half percentage point, while those in San Francisco will be asked for a full percentage point — all to close the operating deficits of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system and local bus and trolley services.
They are the latest in a string of increases that have virtually destroyed a state law limiting local add-on taxes to 2 percentage points over the statewide rate of 7.25%. Local officials seeking to go beyond that cap routinely ask the Legislature to grant waivers and they are routinely approved.
California consumers spend about a trillion dollars a year on taxable goods, and the 7.25% statewide rate — the highest of any state — generates more than $70 billion a year, roughly half of which goes into the state’s general fund budget, with the remainder being divvied up among cities, counties and special districts.
When local override taxes are added, California’s sales tax rate averages 8.99%, according to the Tax Foundation, or seventh highest of any state. With local rates, the range is as high as 11.25% in some Los Angeles County cities.
The sales tax hikes being sought this year are not without controversy.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who led the effort for a health care tax increase, said it is needed to offset a loss of $2.4 billion in federal aid over the next three years. But it has drawn opposition from the California Contract Cities Association, whose members get services from county governments under contract.
There are 73 contract cities in Los Angeles County and the association’s executive officer, Marcel Rodarte, told supervisors in a letter that adding a half percentage point to the overall county tax rate could thwart efforts by cities to raise their rates. “Cities said if we wanted to do our own sales tax measure (increase), this makes it more difficult for cities,” Rodarte said.
Meanwhile, the Bay Area transit tax measure renews a long-running dispute over whether BART and other transit systems are too beholden to their unions and have refused to adjust to the decreased ridership that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have given the Bay Area systems a $590 million loan to avoid deep reductions in service, but they can’t tap the money unless voters agree to raise taxes by an estimated $980 million a year.
Critics say transit officials are trying to scare voters into supporting the tax increase by describing doomsday effects if they don’t back the measure.
Bay Area News Group columnist Daniel Borenstein, wrote recently, “We can’t keep putting Band-Aids on the region’s transportation financing problems. The plea for the loans to cover ongoing operating expenses stems from a failure to right-size operations to meet post-pandemic demand. That’s especially true of BART, which is threatening voters with shuttered stations if the sales tax measure doesn’t pass in November. Never mind that BART is carrying less than half as many passengers as it was before the pandemic while providing more train service. It’s nuts.”
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But, but affordability. And it’s all Trump’s fault.
Mail in ballots will decide....
” a health care tax increase, said it is needed to offset a loss of $2.4 billion in federal aid over the next three years.” ... no doubt to be used to pay for “free” health care for illegal aliens ...
i wonder if voters are stupid enough to raise taxes on themselves for stuff like that? ... after all, these are not the popular “tax the shit out the rich” taxes: sales taxes hit everybody BUT the rich the hardest ...
Familiar mantra of the Left, especially in CA. One problem: the rich are bailing out of CA. But, the politicians are probably thinking: If we raise taxes some more, those rich people will return. You'd think they'd know better...
It is absurd. I love my town but the tax burden is ridiculous and always headed the wrong direction.
I am outta here as soon as my youngest graduates high school in a year. Nevada looks promising.
The ones that don’t pay taxes will vote to raise taxes as long they don’t have to pay taxes ,LOL
California logic:
1. Pass laws permitting shoplifting.
2. Pass no-bail and lenient laws permitting offenders to continue shoplifting.
3. Experience widespread closing of commercial businesses, creating reduced tax revenue.
4. Experience residential flight and lower tax revenues due to high costs, high crime and lost amenities.
5. Raise sales taxes due to budget shortfall.
6. Repeat steps 1 through 4 until entire zones are recolonized by illegals, squatters and homeless.
7. Blame the Federal government.
8. Prescribe and promote socialism as the answer.
9. Promote Governor as presidential candidate.
if the rich are bailing on CA, how come home prices in the state have barely budged?
“California voters will decide.” Now that’s funny right there.
It’s the very wealthy who are bailing out of CA. If you look at the asking prices of very expensive homes in CA and the price they actually sell for, unlike the past where homes sold over asking price, now they are selling at a discount...often a large one.
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