Your guide to L.A.’s ‘mansion tax’ proposal to build more housing, Ordinance ULA
The City Council meeting to consider their city’s Proposition ULA—the “mansion tax”—was the first of three scheduled meetings for residents and activists. The ordinance would, if passed, raise the amount that property owners have to pay to build more housing up to 2.6 million dollars. The city is now in talks with the Port of Los Angeles about putting an additional levy on the local government’s sales tax that would increase it by another 300 thousand dollars, bringing in an additional 2.7 million dollars in annual revenue.
In addition to a 2.6 million dollar land tax on property owners, the Port will be asking for up to 600,000 dollars in local sales tax from companies using port areas. If all three measures are passed in the City Council, then the proposed sales tax rate will not rise above the current 2.3 percent. The council is considering approving the sales tax proposal to increase the tax on property owners to raise about $2.6 million dollars a year. With the port-only tax measure, the city expects to raise about $2 million dollars a year, and pass the land-only tax and sales tax together to bring in a total of $3 million a year.
The Los Angeles City Council is meeting to consider two other proposals that would raise billions for the city’s residents. In a vote late last night, the council voted 31 to 2 to approve the “mansion tax” proposal by Angel and City Councilman Mitchell Englander.
To raise the tax, Englander proposed a tax on property owners that would raise up to $2.6 million dollars from the property owners’ tax bill. If passed by the council, L.A. would pay the equivalent of 2.6 million dollars to build more housing. Englander’s plan would create more than 2,000 units of housing and add at least $2.6 billion dollars to the city’s finances over the next 25 years.
Another vote last night approved an $18 billion dollar spending plan that will add more than 13,000 housing units in the next 25 years, the proposal is the largest spending plan in a city without a budget for the last six years. The plan, which is called the “Vision Zero Challenge” by Mayor Eric Garcetti, is meant to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries resulting in a total of 26,000 traffic deaths and 6,000 traffic injuries.