Since the “mansion tax” took effect last April, a bevy of groups have aired their grievances. Developers claim the tax eats into their profit margins, stifling new housing projects. Commercial property owners say their sales of warehouses and retail spaces shouldn’t be subject to something that was billed as a “mansion tax.
” Now, a new voice is joining the chorus of complaints: nonprofit housing organizations. In the last year, a pair of nonprofits coughed up a combined $6.1 million in mansion tax fees.
Their leaders say the tax has hampered their ability to accomplish one of Measure ULA’s primary goals: provide affordable housing. Passed in 2022, Measure ULA brought a 4% transfer tax to all L.A.
property sales above $5 million and a 5.5% tax to sales above $10 million. So far, it has raised more than $439 million for affordable housing and homelessness prevention initiatives.
Bob Beitcher, chief executive of the Motion Picture & Television Fund charity organization, was pleased when voters approved ULA, saying that the city benefits when millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share. But when the organization sold off $30 million worth of land, it had to pay $1.65 million in “mansion tax” money.
Since MPTF’s mission seemed to align with Measure ULA’s mission of combating L.A.’s housing crisis, Beitcher assumed the sale would be eligible for an exemption.
“Why us? We never thought we’d be paying this tax,” Beitcher said. “When you hear mansi.
