By Darren Loo, March 18, 2025
The cost of living in Los Angeles County is going up with an increase in sales tax across the county starting April 1, and tariffs from the Trump administration.
The tax increase comes amid already high sales taxes countywide. Pomona will see sales tax now at 10.5% and some cities like Lancaster and Palmdale will see sales tax as high as 11.25%.
The sales tax increase comes after the passing of Measure A during the 2024 election. Measure A advocated for a half percent sales tax increase aimed to help reduce homelessness by increasing affordable housing units and moving homeless individuals into permanent housing. Randy Stein, an associate professor in the College of Business Administration, said these taxes aren’t necessarily a loss but rather more of an investment.
“At the gut level, it’s like, ‘No, I don’t want any increase. More taxes. More taxes are bad,’ which discounts two things,” Stein said. “A tax is not necessarily a loss. It gets invested into something, maybe not well, but it does go somewhere. And number two, if you didn’t bring it up, I don’t think people would really even notice a quarter percent sales tax increase.”
Some students are hoping their tax payments are going toward useful things, but they’re also seeking transparency from the county when it comes to the expenditure of taxpayers’ money.
“If I’m paying extra on something, I would hope it’s going toward where it needs to be, like maybe homelessness, schools, anywhere like that,” said Lawrence Tran, an industrial engineering student . “We should know where our money is going, whether it’s going to the right places or not.”
Measure A passed with 58% of voters voting yes. Although some are pleased the taxes are going to help homelessness in LA, others are not looking forward to paying more for goods, especially with prices of items like groceries going up as well due to tariffs and other factors like the recent bird flu causing egg prices to skyrocket.
Computer science student Markus Thomas said even when buying groceries for himself, his total has progressively increased.
“In terms of groceries, it’s like a runaway sled,” Thomas said. “I haven’t had to buy groceries for a family, but even just buying groceries for myself, I’ve been watching the total price tag increase very, very quickly. It’s just a little worrying for as to how far it’s going to go.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices of groceries throughout the U.S. have been steadily rising. On average, prices of groceries have increased about 31% from five years ago.
With increasing prices, many students are watching their spending closely, and for many college students, every dollar counts.
“Over half of my paycheck is going to a car bill,” Thomas said. “Another quarter is going to gas, and then I have only a quarter left for food and everything else. An extra dollar per purchase is a lot, and that’s going to limit me pretty substantially.”
Furthermore, a new tariff imposed by President Donald Trump on a country’s imports is expected to drive up the costs of goods for Americans even more. The tariffs have already driven up the prices of fresh produce, such as avocados, cucumbers and bell peppers.
Trump said in a Truth Social post: “The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky. If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
The unpredictability of Trump’s tariffs are also affecting the stock market as investors aren’t confident in what will happen next.
“We are already seeing the effects on tariffs with the stock market tumbling, which I’m hesitant to make any predictions on what will happen tomorrow regarding tariffs,” said Stein. “There’s tariffs in Australia, apparently, and when I heard that, I was like, ‘Well, OK, I guess that’s our new enemy.’”
The cost of living in the U.S. on the rise, especially in LA County. Rent is almost twice the national average in LA and increasing, and families of four, making less than $100k is classified as low income.Residents are finding new ways like budgeting better, finding cheaper alternatives to even moving away from Los Angeles, to adapt to the rising costs of everything.
Feature image by Connor Lālea Hampton
