LA case study: "Mansion Tax" a backchannel giveaway to unaccountable nonprofits
In the NY Post, Susan Shelley—Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association's VP of Comm's—untangles LA's latest homelessness hotfix, by the name of recently-passed Measure ULA. No surprise here: Residents making high-value real estate transactions are being asked to fork over some big coin, but none of it will go to emergency shelters or transitional housing. Rather, the takings go to the same people who wrote the ordinance: nonprofits peddling the discredited Housing First mantra.
Measure ULA, aka Los Angeles’ ‘mansion tax,’ was approved by 58% of voters last year. Proponents said it will raise nearly $1 billion in revenue; they’re already backtracking those numbers.
Every dollar of property value is taxed, not just the value that exceeds those thresholds. And the tax must be paid at the close of escrow regardless of whether the seller makes a profit or loss....
Following San Francisco’s lead, proponents of Measure ULA wrote their citizens’ initiative to impose a new tax on real estate transfers for the “special purpose” of essentially funding themselves.
It says so right in the voter information guide: “ULA was drafted by homeless service providers, affordable housing nonprofits, labor unions and renters’ rights groups.”
Unsurprisingly, the initiative directs all that tax revenue to fund contracts that specifically benefit those very same groups and their highly paid executives.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post. Read the whole thing here.
This article is part of an exclusive Opp Now series on hazy, shady, and all-out criminal relationships between local nonprofits/gov't:
Jonathan Fleming, founder and director of SVPAF, speaks to what's going on with SJ's nonprofit community.
Joel Kotin at Philanthropy Daily analyzes the worrisome dynamic of local left-wing nonprofits advocating for extremist policies while at the same time benefiting from taxpayer and ultra-rich funder largesse.
Nonprofit attorney Scott Hartley of Hartley Law clarifies the parameters that apply to nonprofits when it comes to political activity.
SFStandard.com reports on how nonprofits in San Francisco can leverage huge sums of taxpayer dollars for political activity while neglecting their core mission.
Planning Commissioner chair Pierluigi Oliverio offers a compromise in the ongoing dispute over whether local progressive nonprofits break regulations with their aggressive lobbying of City staff /politicians: treat all advocacy activity the same.
Josh Koehn explains in the SF Standard that many residents are urging for transparency in how NP partners address objectives and use taxpayer funds. However, local nonprofit lobbyists strongly request no additional stipulations be enforced—lest the paperwork adds up.
The HJTA's Susan Shelley untangles LA's recently-passed Measure ULA. Residents making high-value real estate transactions must fork over some big coin, but none of it will go to emergency shelters or transitional housing—just unaccountable nonprofits peddling the discredited Housing First mantra.
David Eisbach points out the consequences of COPA's underlying idea: that unhoused people must rely on larger entities to advance in life. Putting nonprofit orgs in a tremendous position of power over lower-income SJ residents/officials will compound conflict-of-interest problems.
Gov't misconduct expert Josh Koehn reports on a new lawsuit against SF nonprofit org the United Council of Human Services, which alleges that CEO Gwendolyn Westbrook has inappropriately used funds for personal benefit.
Local nonprofits act just like lobbyists (but retain their tax exempt status) and brazenly invite conflict of interest concerns. Joel Kotkin provides the backstory in Philanthropy Daily.
Local neighborhood coalition Families & Homes SJ wonders how it's okay that the city's Housing Director can sit on the board of a local housing nonprofit.
SF org Clean City Coalition is alleged to have engaged in highly illegal, dangerous money laundering behaviors.
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