{"id":230309,"date":"2025-09-16T03:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T03:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/230309\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T03:01:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T03:01:11","slug":"l-a-s-mansion-tax-remains-intact-for-now-as-state-reform-bill-stalls-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/230309\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A.\u2019s \u201cmansion tax\u201d remains intact for now, as state reform bill stalls \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A state bill backed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to reform Los Angeles\u2019 Measure ULA<\/a>, the voter-approved \u201cmansion tax\u201d to fund affordable housing, was quietly pulled late last week following swift pushback from both housing advocates and real estate industry leaders.<\/p>\n

Introduced in the final days of the legislative session, the proposal sparked concerns from ULA supporters that it could reduce funding for affordable housing and homelessness prevention. Some real estate groups, meanwhile, argued the measure came too late and failed to adequately address the tax\u2019s economic impact.<\/p>\n

Measure ULA<\/a>, approved by voters in 2022, levies a 4% tax on property sales above $5 million and 5.5% on sales over $10 million. The funds are earmarked for affordable housing production, rental assistance, and homelessness prevention programs.<\/p>\n

The reform bill, Senate Bill 423, co-authored by Democratic lawmakers Lena Gonzalez and Tina McKinnor, would have maintained those tax rates for most high-end residential properties, while reducing the rate to 1.5% for some commercial developments built in the last 15 years. It also included exemptions for homes rebuilt after recent natural disasters.<\/p>\n

By Thursday, state lawmakers had withdrawn the proposal with plans to revisit it in the next legislative session. The mayor\u2019s office confirmed Monday that the legislation had been continued due to \u201ca need for additional amendments and further technical changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether working in Sacramento or here in Los Angeles, my goal is to build more housing and make it more affordable while fixing unintended consequences of policies impacting families trying to rebuild after January\u2019s fires,\u201d Bass said in a statement.<\/p>\n

She added that the city is \u201cworking to safeguard local revenue for affordable housing and homelessness prevention,\u201d and expressed support for reintroducing the bill in January after further improvements.<\/p>\n

But the proposal quickly drew fire from housing advocacy groups, who accused Sacramento lawmakers of trying to undermine local voter will.<\/p>\n

United to House LA<\/a>, which championed the 2022 ballot measure, called the bill \u201crushed\u201d and \u201cbased on flawed research<\/a>,\u201d and said it would have slashed revenue earmarked for affordable housing and homelessness prevention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe research driving the deal was flawed so it\u2019s no surprise that the legislation wasn\u2019t ready for prime time,\u201d the group said in a statement Monday. \u201cLos Angeles voters passed Measure ULA to build the affordable housing we need, so we don\u2019t think Sacramento politicians should go over their heads to give that money back to for-profit developers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters pointed to signs of recovery in the housing market, saying development has picked up since the city approved long-delayed zoning reforms in February. More than 17,000 units have been proposed since then, they said \u2014 a trend that runs \u201ccontrary to claims of the real estate industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fred Sutton, senior vice president of local public affairs at the California Apartment Association, countered that the measure has \u201cfailed to deliver on its promises,\u201d citing lower-than-expected revenues and a chilling effect on property sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message to city leaders should be clear: constant intervention in the housing market is counterproductive,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cPolicies like ULA may sound appealing but they ultimately reduce housing supply and drive up costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel Yukelson, executive director and CEO of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, said the bill was proposed \u201cextremely late in the legislative session\u201d and still wouldn\u2019t have done enough to ease burden on developers.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re 4% or 5.5% behind on your investment the minute your investment is ready to be occupied,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so, given where we are with interest rates and the softening of the real estate market, it doesn\u2019t pencil out for people to want to make these costly investments in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sutton said the city\u2019s transfer tax structure is out of balance and needs reform to avoid further harming the housing market. Yukelson went further, calling Measure ULA a deterrent to new development and arguing that it should be repealed entirely.<\/p>\n

ULA advocates rejected that view, saying the measure has already begun to make an impact. As of July, the city had collected $830 million, which they said helped keep more than 10,000 residents housed and launched construction on nearly 800 affordable homes.<\/p>\n

The legislative proposal is expected to return in January, after further technical changes. In the meantime, both sides said the debate over Measure ULA is far from over.<\/p>\n

\u201cReform is still necessary,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cWhether reform comes this year or in future sessions, the conversation is far from over.\u201d<\/p>\n

United to House LA, meanwhile, vowed to keep \u201cholding our leaders in L.A. and Sacramento accountable\u201d and said the group would continue fighting efforts to roll back ULA or divert its revenues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A state bill backed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to reform Los Angeles\u2019 Measure ULA, the voter-approved…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":230310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[852,1582,276,1853,5413,2961,224,6080,5337,50,26320],"class_list":{"0":"post-230309","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-affordable-housing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-california-legislature","12":"tag-karen-bass","13":"tag-la","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-county","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-voters"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115211749500087987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}