00:00Today, I'm going to talk about one of the strangest results in the LA County vote in
00:04the June 2nd California primary, and that is the passage of Measure ER, a half percent
00:11sales tax increase that will take the sales tax in Los Angeles County from a very high
00:179.75% to the almost unthinkable 10.25%, one of the highest in the country.
00:23Why did this happen?
00:25County officials put this measure on the ballot because they say that county health services
00:29are going to run out of money, and they blame President Donald Trump and his one big beautiful
00:33bill, which made some reforms to Medicaid funding going to the states.
00:37It didn't actually cut that funding, it just slowed the rate of growth.
00:41But whatever the cause, LA County voters have been saying for months that the cost of living
00:46is intolerable.
00:47In fact, it's driving tens of thousands of people to leave, and in our own poll at the
00:51California Post, we found that the cost of living was the number one issue for voters
00:56in this election.
00:57Initially, it looked like Measure ER, the tax increase, was going to fail, but with late
01:02ballots coming in, especially for Nithya Raman, the tax increase passed.
01:06It came in just over 50% and continues to do better.
01:11So what happened?
01:12Well, perhaps voters were swayed by the county's arguments that they needed this money for
01:16health care.
01:17Perhaps people were simply confused.
01:19They thought maybe they were voting for a tax on other people, but it's not a tax on
01:23billionaires.
01:23It's not a tax on rich people.
01:24It's a tax on everybody, and in fact, sales taxes tend to be more regressive.
01:28They hurt the poor more.
01:30Maybe there was some fraud, or just maybe the same left-wing interest groups that managed
01:35to organize a late surge for Nithya Raman in the voting also organized a yes vote on Measure
01:41ER.
01:42Whatever the reason, the cost of living is going up in Los Angeles County, and the next time
01:47people complain, remind them L.A. County voters chose a higher sales tax.
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