L.A. Voters Back a Sales Tax Hike to Pay for the Fire Department

Measure FD would lift the rate to 10.75%, likely in spring, and raise nearly $350 million a year for the LAFD.

Buy a $1,000 laptop in the city of Los Angeles today and the sales tax comes to $102.50. By spring, it'll likely be $107.50.

That extra $5 comes from Measure FD, the half-cent sales tax for the Los Angeles Fire Department that city voters backed in Tuesday's election, LAist reported Friday. It raises the city's rate from 10.25% to 10.75%. The measure is expected to bring in nearly $350 million a year to hire firefighters, buy vehicles and fix up fire stations.

The count isn't final. Preliminary county returns had the measure at 53.7% on Wednesday, Patch reported. Mayor Karen Bass and firefighter unions backed it. The Los Angeles Police Protective League and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association opposed it. The county registrar has until Dec. 3 to certify the results.

The tax grew out of the January 2025 fires, when the region's stretched firefighting became plain to see, according to LAist and Patch.

The half cent applies to the same things the current rate does: furniture, toys, clothing and restaurant meals, among others. Groceries and medicine stay exempt. Not all of the 10.75% goes to the city, either. California's base rate is 7.25%, and local add-ons stack on top of it.

The new rate doesn't make L.A. the region's priciest place to shop. On LAist's list, the city now sits level with Beverly Hills at 10.25%. After the increase it'll pass Chicago, at 10.5%, but stay under Santa Monica and Culver City, both at 11.25%.

Palmdale and Lancaster top the list at 11.75%, which LAist calls the highest rate in the country. In Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, shoppers pay only the 7.25% state base.

The start date depends on City Hall. Under the measure, the tax kicks in when a new calendar quarter opens, and that quarter has to begin more than 110 days after the City Council adopts the ordinance. LAist expects that to be sometime in spring.

Until then, the tax on that laptop is still $102.50.

Source: LAist, retrieved November 6, 2026. Other sources: patch.com.