Voters slam California with new local taxes and bonds
By John Seiler | December 6, 2024
California’s Nov. 5 election totals, finalized on Dec. 5 by county registrars, show voters slammed local taxpayers with around $2.3 billion in new direct tax increases. Plus $47.1 billion in new bond debt, which I call “bonds/taxes” because bonds are repaid with increased tax rates. That’s according to a tally provided to me by Tobias Wolken, policy advocate at the California Taxpayers Association.
Of 533 local tax and bond/tax measures statewide, 405 passed and 128 failed, a 76% passage rate. That’s actually higher than in recent elections, he said. “In March 2024, it was 72.5%. For November 2022, it was 69%.”
Some specifics, again preliminary:
- 115 sales tax increases were on the ballot, with 90 approved, or 78%;
- 287 bonds were on the ballot (municipal and school), with 214 approved, or 75%;
- 72 parcel taxes were on the ballot, with 52 approved, or 72%
To pass a local sales or parcel tax, a majority is required for general spending, but two-thirds for a specific spending proposal, such as building roads. For school bonds, 55% is needed. Also on Nov. 5, statewide voters rejected Proposition 5, by 55% to 45%, which would have dropped from two-thirds to 55% the threshold for passing local bond measures for housing and public infrastructure.
All the new taxes only will encourage future levies to be put before voters. The ramifications will continue showing California to be a high-tax state in which the powerful public-employee unions get what they want, with few or no reforms on how the money is spent, despite the continuation of potholed roads and low school test scores.
David Kline, CalTax’s Vice President of Communications & Research, gave me some perspective on what will happen.
Home prices. The effect on home prices is uncertain, he said. But for homeowners, the cost of keeping a home will rise. “The owners will pay higher property taxes for the next 30 years or so, using money they otherwise could have used to pay for food, gas, college tuition, vacations, extra principal payments and anything else.”
Homelessness. Many of the tax increases go to homeless programs. The biggest was Measure A for Los Angeles County, passed with 57.7%. It replaced the Measure H 0.25-cent sales tax from 2017 with a new, 0.50-cent sales tax to raise $1.07 billion a year. Here’s the Ballot Title voters read: “HOMELESSNESS SERVICES AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING ORDINANCE. To require accountability and results, create affordable housing, support home ownership, provide rental assistance, increase mental health and addiction treatment, reduce and prevent homelessness; and provide services for children, families, veterans, domestic violence survivors, seniors and disabled people experiencing homelessness.”
But what is the overall effect? “Property tax increases, sales tax increases, utility tax increases and other tax hikes make it more expensive for people to live in California, whether they are homeowners or renters,” Kline warned. “So it wouldn’t be surprising if they contribute to the problem of homelessness.”
He said a better way to help the homeless would be to reduce the cost of living so more people can afford housing. “But these tax increases go in the opposite direction, and could be the difference for someone living on the edge of homelessness.”
Voter awareness. The sales taxes will hit hard with big purchases. The average cost of a new car in the United States today is $48,401. Measure A’s 0.5-cent sales tax will carjack another $242 from the new owner. The Los Angeles City sales tax rate will rise from 9.5% to 9.75%. So the sales tax for that average new car will be $4,717. And for such fine city services.
Homeowners also are going to find out the cost of these new measures when they make purchases or look at their property tax bills. As I noted in my Oct. 31 Free Cities Center article previewing some of these local measures, in Los Angeles the average new home price is $950,032. That means the Measure US property tax increase of “2.5 cents per assessed valuation” will cost such a homeowner $222 more a year.
Kline said voters are becoming increasingly aware such tax increases are going to hit them hard. Yet the overwhelming majority of the measures passed anyway. “One big problem is that in local elections, government officials write the ballot questions, and they use biased language – often omitting key details about the cost of the tax,” he said. The Measure A ballot language I quoted above shows that.
Government-funded websites also entice voters with positive messages. “Californians should be aware of this conflict of interest and should be vigilant for violations of the law against using tax dollars or any public resources to influence campaigns,” he said. “Voters should demand honest, unbiased information from their government.”
Voter awareness is needed to return the Golden State to being affordable by more people than Silicon Valley billionaires and government workers.
John Seiler is on the Editorial Board of the Southern California News Group and blogs at johnseiler.substack.com.
