POLITICS: LA County already taxed to the max

All the recent talk about “affordability” was just talk.

That’s the message the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sent this week when they voted to propose a 0.5% sales tax.

That would push sales taxes in LA County — already among the highest in the country — from 9.75% to 10.25%. And that would be even higher in some cities.

Four of the board’s five members — Hilda L. Solis, Holly J. Mitchell, Lindsey P. Horvath, and Janice Hahn — voted in favor of the sales tax hike.

Only one — the lone Republican, Kathryn Barger — voted against it.

Mitchell gave a lengthy presentation about why the county supposedly needs the additional revenue. She blamed President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which has tightened the rules for eligibility for Medicaid funding (which takes the form of Medi-Cal in California).

Supposedly, one in three residents will be affected by Medicaid cuts. The county supervisors say they need to make up the shortfall by raising sales taxes. 

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But why should taxpayers — including the poor — have to foot the bill, especially to benefit people who may have no legal right to be here at all?

Sales taxes are a regressive tax, meaning that they hurt the poor more than the rich. That’s because sales of goods and services are a larger proportion of the income of lower-income families. 

Mitchell said that the sales tax hike is “temporary,” and that it would expire in 2031.

We’ve been in that movie before. There are no “temporary” taxes. 

In 2017, voters were asked to consider a quarter-cent sales tax in Measure H to fund homeless services. That was supposed to be temporary, expiring in 2017.

That tax was just extended indefinitely last year in Measure A, which repealed Measure H, only to raise sales tax another half a percent, a net hike of 0.25%.

Mitchell argued that the county would pay more in the long run with no tax hike, because people who could not obtain “free” health care would develop bigger health problems over time. They would start showing up in emergency rooms, placing a bigger burden on the system.

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That’s an argument for preventative care, but the Medi-Cal cuts aren’t just about preventative care.

The fact that the county wants to raise taxes for the general fund, rather than earmarking them specifically for health care, also raises suspicions.

Are the supervisors simply using health care as a ruse — threatening residents, in effect, by telling them people will die if they don’t agree to pay more taxes?

There’s rarely a discussion about how to cut spending, or how to spend more efficiently.

Our leaders simply treat residents as if we have an endless tolerance for more taxes, more fees, more regulations, and more bureaucracy.

Before voting on yet another tax increase, let’s see a proposal to spend the county’s existing budget more wisely.

With a budget close to $50 billion, there has to be room for maneuver. 

County residents — especially the poorest — are already taxed to the limit.