As the rising cost of living continues to burden Korean-American households, sales taxes across LA County will increase starting April 1, further straining the budgets of everyday people. The base sales tax rate applied throughout LA County, including the City of Los Angeles, has risen from 9.5% to 9.75%, an increase of 0.25 percentage points.
This sales tax hike stems from Measure A, passed in the November 2024 election, which imposes an additional 0.5% sales tax per dollar on goods sold in LA County to fund homeless support services and affordable housing ordinances. On top of this, some cities within LA County have introduced their own additional sales tax increases, resulting in total increases ranging from 0.25 to 1 percentage point, depending on the city. (See table)
With prices already high, LA sales taxes are rising across the board starting today.
Cities such as Burbank, Arcadia, Gardena, Glendale, Norwalk, Pasadena, South Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge, Long Beach, Montebello, and Monterey Park saw their sales tax rise from 10.25% to 10.5%, an increase of 0.25 percentage points. Downey’s rate went from 10% to 10.5%, while Santa Monica’s increased from 10.25% to 10.75%, a 0.5 percentage point jump.
The cities with the largest increases include Artesia and Palmdale, where rates rose by 1 percentage point—from 9.5% to 10.5% in Artesia and from 10.25% to 11.25% in Palmdale. Palmdale now has the highest sales tax rate in LA County, with a 1.5 percentage point gap compared to the City of Los Angeles.
In contrast, sales tax rates in Orange County and Riverside County remain unchanged at 7.75%. Ventura County, which has the lowest sales tax in Southern California, stands at 7.25%.
In Orange County, only certain cities saw sales tax increases. Buena Park, where a stretch of Beach Boulevard has been designated as Koreatown with a concentration of Korean businesses, passed Measure R in the last election to fund police staffing and city budget needs, raising its sales tax from 7.75% to 8.75%, a 1 percentage point increase.
La Habra’s rate rose from 8.25% to 8.75%, and Seal Beach’s went from 8.75% to 9.25%, both by 0.5 percentage points. Even so, these rates remain lower than those in LA County.
The sales tax increase is expected to impact both consumers and businesses, driving up the cost of goods and services. Amid ongoing inflation, this tax hike is anticipated to become yet another factor weighing down the finances of working-class households.
[Reporter Roh Se-hee]