Sergio Vargas, left, in a jean jacket, co-director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment Action, leads a chant with supporters of Measure ULA, a tax that funds affordable housing, as they walk to City Hall Tuesday. The groups rallied before the Los Angeles City Council debated whether to approve a ballot measure that would change the measure.
"Measure ULA, L.A.’s so-called mansion tax, has been an object of scorn within the real estate industry, with developers saying it has put a major chill on the construction of desperately needed apartments.
Mayor Karen Bass, expressing sympathy for those arguments, sponsored a state bill last fall to overhaul the tax, but that effort quickly fell apart.
On Tuesday, City Councilmember Nithya Raman took her own shot at rewriting the tax, saying she too believes it is holding back housing production. Raman asked her colleagues to place a measure on the June 2 ballot that would spare the sellers of newer apartment buildings from paying the tax, which currently applies to most property sales of $5.3 million or more."