New LA County Coalition Battles Massive Tax Hikes

For the first time since the 1970s, California’s Los Angeles County has an organization that’s fighting back against seemingly never-ending tax hikes.

The Los Angeles County Taxpayers Association is a “grassroots and business coalition,” as founder Aidan Chao described it to Newsmax.

According to Chao, the association was created to “hold government accountable.” For a long period of time, he explained, no group was keeping tax legislation in the county in check. As a result, taxpayers had no representation in Los Angeles County, and this allowed for “250 tax increases” on the 2022 ballot alone.

Chao pointed out to Newsmax that the sheer size of LA County in Southern California, with its population of 9.83 million people, would be the nation’s eleventh most populous state if it were to stand independently. His inspiration for founding the coalition stemmed from the county’s massive population being affected by unopposed taxation orchestrated by local government, including the aforementioned 250 proposed increases from last year.

He added that his aim is to have “a government by the people, for the people.”

According to Chao, his association works to advocate for taxpayer protection, something that hasn’t been prominently done in California since the late tax revolt leader Howard Jarvis throughout the 1970s. Jarvis and other tax revolt leaders pushed for, and won, voter approval of Proposition 13 by voters in a 1978 statewide initiative. Under Proposition 13, all real estate property has established base values, restrictions on rate increases that cannot be greater than 2%, and a 1% limit on property taxes on the assessed value.

Chao made it clear to Newsmax that his coalition is striving to protect Proposition 13, as the tax revolutionists that preceded him had done. He also expressed his displeasure with the Los Angeles County’s recent tax hikes on real estate, calling them “egregious,” and he believes that local government will attempt to implement a “transfer tax” on real estate in the city, which can be as high as .41% in Los Angeles County.

The coalition founder pointed out to Newsmax a tax increase on properties valued over $10 million, in which taxes on properties of this value were to be increased tenfold. Taxes go up 4% if the property is valued over $5 million, and up to 5.5% when valued over $10 million.

The effect speaks for itself. Last March, there were 126 houses in the city that were valued over $10 million. When the tax went into effect April 1, only two houses valued over $10 million remained.

An optimistic Chao told Newsmax that the Los Angeles County Taxpayers Association exists because of the locals’ attachment to the area. “We always find a way to come back,” he said, “because we love living here.”

Christopher Savino is a rising senior at Rutgers University in New Jersey and a summer intern at Newsmax’s Washington, D.C. office.