WRITTEN PUBLIC
COMMENTS RECEIVED
1 Via Email Only
March 11, 2026
Honorable Mayor and City Council
Beverly Hills City Hall
455 N. Rexford Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Re: Opposition to LA County ½ Sales Tax Increase Measure (“Essential Services Restoration Act”)
Dear Honorable Mayor Nazarian and Members of the City Council:
The Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce opposes a planned ballot measure on the June 2, 2026 ballot that would increase the sales tax in Los Angeles County by ½ percent from 9.75 percent to
10.25 percent. The Chamber is concerned about the continuing impact of ever increasing taxes on consumers and local businesses and encourages the City to take an oppose position as well.
Beverly Hills Measure RP, which passed in 2020, is a conditional measure that allows the City to impose up to a 0.75% sales tax if another local government entity, such as Los Angeles County, also seeks to increase its sales tax to the maximum allowed by law. This would allow revenue from any tax increase to go to Beverly Hills. In this respect, the Chamber is also opposed to California Assembly Bill 1768 which would allow the County of Los Angeles to exceed the current maximum allowable tax by law (set by California Transactions and Use Tax Law Section 7251.1) and thus undermine the provisions of Measure RP.
The Chamber rejects the idea that a sales tax should generally increase in percentage over time as that has no logical end point and reflects an inability to control spending. Our region already has one of the highest sales taxes in the country. Sales taxes are also considered regressive since they take a larger percentage of income from low-income earners than from high-income earners. The City of Beverly Hills has gone to significant lengths to be business friendly, which are much appreciated, and which would be undermined by this new proposed tax.
Based on the above, the Chamber asks that the City take the following actions:
(1) Oppose the Essential Services Restoration Act and California Assembly Bill 1768. 2 (2) Should the Essential Services Restoration Act pass and California Assembly Bill 1768 fail, allow the provisions of Measure RP to go into effect so revenue from any sales tax increase goes to Beverly Hills.
(3) Should both the Essential Services Restoration Act pass and California Assembly Bill 1768 pass, suspend the implementation of Measure RP (as occurred in 2024) to prevent a tax increase on top of the Essential Services Restoration Act.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Todd Johnson
President and CEO
Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce