Sales Tax Hikes Leading in L.A. and O.C. Can't Start Before April 1

State rules bar a new local sales tax before the first quarter that starts more than 110 days after voters approve it.

If you shop in the city of Los Angeles, the 10.25% sales tax on your receipt isn't changing yet. Measure FD, a half-cent increase for the Fire Department, was ahead after election night. Under state rules, the earliest it can reach a register is April 1.

L.A. wasn't alone in saying yes. Of 32 local tax measures on the ballot across Los Angeles and Orange counties, all but six looked headed for passage in early results, LAist reported, with several more days of counting to go. Sales taxes were the closer call. Besides L.A., voters in Orange, Santa Ana, Cudahy and San Gabriel backed one, while Diamond Bar, Hermosa Beach and San Clemente turned theirs down.

Eleven cities, from Burbank to Los Alamitos, passed hotel taxes, and Lynwood voted to tax overnight stays for the first time. Most business taxes and parcel taxes passed as well.

For Angelenos, FD would be the second half-cent in a matter of months. Countywide Measure ER already raised the county's base rate to 10.25% on Oct. 1, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the state agency that runs sales tax.

FD would take the city's rate to 10.75% and send an estimated $345 million a year to the Fire Department, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which opposed FD, counted it as the third sales tax hike since 2024 and put the cost at about $86 a person a year, according to the Times.

A no vote changes things too. South Gate voters rejected an 8% utility tax that the city projected would add about $39 a month to a typical household's bills, LAist reported. The city faces a $9.4 million yearly deficit and has already eliminated its school crossing guards. Next, it's preparing to shut its pool and its ballfields until spring.

Here's what to do while the count finishes:

1. Check that your city's measure held. The L.A. County registrar posts updates most days around 5 p.m. and plans to certify results by Nov. 27, according to LAist. Orange County's deadline is Dec. 3.
2. Don't budget for a new rate before April 1. A new local sales tax can kick in only when a new quarter opens, and only a quarter that begins more than 110 days after voters adopt it, the state tax agency says. Its own example: a tax passed in November 2024 couldn't start before April 1, 2025. That date is a floor, not a promise. If a city is slow with its paperwork, the start can slip to a later quarter, and the agency says it may need as much as 95 days to warn sellers.
3. Look up your rate by address, not ZIP code. The agency's rate page has an address search, and its customer service line is 1-800-400-7115, weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ZIP codes don't follow city lines, and the agency warns that retailers who go by ZIP end up overcharging customers who live outside the city.
4. If you sell things, watch one page. The agency's Explanation of Tax Rate Changes lists each new rate with its start date. As of Thursday, it ran only through Oct. 1, with nothing yet for the Nov. 3 measures. Last year's November winners, including Santa Fe Springs' Measure L, showed up there with the same start date: April 1.

Source: LAist, retrieved November 5, 2026. Other sources: State of California, yahoo.com, State of California (2), State of California (3).