LA taxed housing to get more housing. It got less.

Los Angeles had a housing shortage.So naturally, it decided to tax housing.In 2022, voters approved Measure ULA.They were told they were voting for a “mansion tax” on millionaires and billionaires.

Far less attention was paid to apartment buildings, commercial property and development sites.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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Never miss a story.Proponents projected the measure could help produce more than 26,000 affordable homes over a decade.It sounded almost painless.

Tax mansions.House poor people.Except ULA isn’t really a mansion tax.

It’s a tax on real-estate transactions.California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedInCalifornia Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, XCalifornia Post Opinion California Post Newsletters: Sign up here!California Post App: Download here!Home delivery: Sign up here!Page Six Hollywood: Sign up here!Sell an apartment building above the threshold? Taxed.Commercial property? Taxed.

A development site? Taxed.Today, ULA adds a 4% tax to qualifying property sales above $5.4 million and a 5.5% tax to sales of $10.9 million or more — on top of the city’s existing transfer tax.And those dollar thresholds are set to increase automatically, tied to inflation.Even worse, once a sale crosses the threshold, the tax applies to the entire sale price — not just the amount above the threshold.

Sell a property for just over $5.4 million and the ULA tax alone can top $216,000.The distinction matters because politicians love talking about who supposedly pays a tax.What matters in the real world is what transaction government is taxing — and how people change their behavior to avoid it.Tax cigarettes and politicians expect people to smoke less.Tax carbon and they expect people to emit less carbon.Tax high-...