LA’s ‘Mansion Tax’ Backfires Spectacularly As Thousands Of Homes And Jobs Vanish
5th October 2026
LA’s “mansion tax,” sold to Angelenos as a way to tax the rich and boost housing, has instead blocked the building of 9,100 homes, wiped out 16,650 full-time construction jobs and cost $452 million in revenue.
A damning new report says the tax, officially known as United to House LA, or ULA — has had a negative impact on the city’s high-end and multi-family real estate markets and collected less than half what it was expected to generate to tackle the city’s housing crisis.
The ULA was expected to raise about $900 million a year, or $2.7 billion over its first three years. Instead, it brought in about $1.2 billion.
Politicians universally believe that they can slap a tax on something and people will just sit quietly and pay it. It’s like thinking that ‘gun control’ laws will reduce ‘gun violence’.
Despite its nickname, LA’s “mansion tax” applies far beyond luxury homes. Apartment buildings, offices, warehouses and vacant land can all trigger the tax if they sell above the thresholds.
About 1,000 of the 9,100-plus new homes lost would have been affordable units — the very thing the tax was supposed to create — according to RAND corporation, a non-partisan, nonprofit research group.
Westside real estate broker Danny Brown told The California Post the tax was ”another disaster initiated by the incompetent socialists who run our city.”
“ULA has chopped the legs from under the residential and commercial real estate industry, which is one of the largest parts of our city’s economic engine,” Brown said.
Gee, who could have seen that coming?