A group of Los Angeles business leaders filed a local ballot measure July 23 that would repeal Los Angeles’ gross receipts tax, saving taxpayers approximately $800 million per year.
The “Los Angeles Cost of Living Relief Initiative,” targeted for the June 2026 ballot, was filed by members of the Central City Association, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA).
VICA President Stuart Waldman, former aide to several Democratic members of the state Assembly, told the Los Angeles Times that the city’s economy has been slowed by tax increases, fee increases, and new regulations, including the mandate that hotel and airport employees be paid at least $30 per hour by 2028.
“Industry leaders have long decried L.A.’s business tax, which is levied not on profits but on the gross receipts that are brought in – even where an enterprise suffers financial losses,” the Times wrote. “Former Mayor Eric Garcetti argued for eliminating the tax more than a decade ago, saying it puts the city’s economy at a competitive disadvantage. Once in office, he only managed to scale it back, amid concerns that an outright repeal would trigger cuts to city services.”
The measure would not repeal the city’s taxes on the sale of cannabis or medical marijuana.
Another group of business leaders recently submitted signatures for a measure that would repeal the city’s $30 minimum wage requirement for hotel and airport employees. County elections officials are in the process of determining if the measure has qualified for the ballot.
Meanwhile, the Unite Here Local 11 union has filed measures to: expand the $30 minimum wage to all employees in the city; require a citywide vote to approve the construction or expansion of hotels, stadiums, concert halls and other venues; raise taxes on Los Angeles businesses that pay their chief executive officers more than 100 times their median-salary employee in the city; and limit businesses’ use of city-owned property if the pay ratio exceeds the same limit.