How much sales tax is too much? Twelve percent? Fifteen percent? At what point will Los Angeles County’s elected officials decide that residents are paying enough?
On October 1, the county’s Measure ER added another 0.5% to sales tax rates throughout Los Angeles County, ostensibly to support health services. That brought the rate in San Gabriel to 11%. Now, San Gabriel voters face Measure PS, which would add another 1.0%, pushing the city’s sales tax to a staggering 12%, the highest in California.
But San Gabriel is not alone. Lancaster and Palmdale already have sales tax rates of 11.75%. On November 3, Diamond Bar voters will consider Measure Q, which would raise their rate to 11.25%. Hermosa Beach’s Measure HB and the city of Los Angeles’ Measure FD would impose another 0.5% tax hike, raising both cities’ overall rate to 10.75%.
California law generally limits local sales tax increases, but rather than respect those limits, cities and counties seek special exemptions from Sacramento. San Gabriel received one, allowing it to pursue a measure that would take its total rate to nosebleed levels.
The result is an endless competition among governments to extract more money from consumers.
And those least able to afford higher taxes bear the heaviest burden.
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a progressive organization hardly known for opposing taxes, California’s lowest-income households pay 7.6% of their income in sales and excise taxes. Middle-income households pay 5.4%, while the wealthiest 1% pay just 1%.
This is what economists mean when they call a tax regressive. Lower-income families spend a greater share of their earnings on consumption, so sales taxes take a larger bite out of their budgets. Raising these taxes makes California’s already punishing cost of living even worse.
The contrast with other metropolitan areas back East is striking.
New York City’s combined sales tax rate is 8.875%. Washington, D.C.’s rate is 7%, while Northern Virginia’s is generally 6%. Boston shoppers pay the state rate of 6.25%, because Massachusetts prohibits local sales taxes.
Consider a $1,000 taxable mattress purchase. If San Gabriel’s Measure PS passes, the sales tax would be $120. In Boston, it would be $62.50. That’s nearly twice as much tax for the same purchase.
And California’s tax burden is even worse when buying clothing. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Vermont and Rhode Island generally exempt clothing from sales taxes. New York exempts most clothing and footwear costing less than $110 per item, while Massachusetts provides an exemption for clothing purchases up to $175 per item.
California offers no comparable exemption. A family buying new clothes for the kids, winter coats or new shoes faces the full local sales tax rate.
Supporters of higher sales taxes routinely argue that governments need additional revenue to keep up with inflation and rising service costs. But this argument overlooks something important: Sales tax revenues generally rise automatically, even when tax rates stay the same.
When prices increase, the government collects more tax on each taxable purchase. When the population grows and economic activity expands, taxable sales increase further.
Consider California’s own experience. The state’s General Fund sales tax rate has remained at 3.9375% since July 2011. Yet according to state tax collection data, annual General Fund sales and use tax collections rose from approximately $19.2 billion in fiscal year 2011-12 to $35 billion in 2024-25.
That’s an 82% increase, averaging about 4.7% annually, without raising the General Fund tax rate.
Local governments benefit from the same underlying growth in taxable sales. Their revenues are not frozen simply because their tax rates remain unchanged.
Of course, providing public services costs money. But rising expenses should prompt governments to scrutinize staffing, compensation, contracts and lower-priority programs—not automatically demand another rate hike from residents.
The tax increases have become a habit: When budgets tighten, raise the sales tax. When costs rise again, raise it once more. And when state law gets in the way, ask Sacramento for an exemption.
Los Angeles County residents already pay some of the nation’s highest sales tax rates. The November election gives voters in San Gabriel, Diamond Bar, Hermosa Beach and LA City an opportunity to say enough is enough.
Marc Joffe is a Visiting Fellow at the California Policy Center.