Like many cities nationwide, Los Angeles suffers from the basic arithmetical problem of having many people move in, but a very limited supply of housing for them. To “fix” that problem, the city’s government is doing what government does best — placing the burden elsewhere. The city council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee recently backed what is essentially a tax on all new construction. The tax, dubbed the “linkage fee”, would range from $1-15 per square foot depending on construction type and location. The revenue generated from that construction tax would be used to build affordable housing. The committee’s report mentioned that the fee would not cause increased housing costs, because it would be “absorbed into land prices or reductions in developer profits.” Either they are blatantly lying or woefully misled, since such built-in costs don’t just disappear by magic. The proposal now goes before the full council, where many expect it to get the green light.

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