'Mansion tax' would raise money for LA housing. Bass and Caruso don't support it
LOS ANGELES — Rep. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso have each put forward expensive plans for expanding interim and permanent housing for homeless people, but the Los Angeles mayoral candidates have offered few specifics about how they would pay for them.
One possible way to fund these plans is a ballot measure going before city voters in November. Known as Measure ULA, or "United to House L.A.," the "mansion tax" would impose an additional tax on commercial and residential property sales that exceed $5 million.
The ballot measure would generate an estimated $600 million to $1.1 billion a year, according to a city analysis.
Caruso's proposed plan costs roughly $900 million, Bass' about $300 million. But neither candidate has supported the measure, even as city officials expect funds available for affordable housing construction to plummet in the coming years.
Both appear to think that backing the tax is bad politics when Angelenos
