For the past three years or so, the city of Los Angeles has been auditing parking operators to find if they have paid their parking tax. They have received a considerable amount of input, and found that most of those audited have come up short. Many of the operators have simply paid the back taxes, cleaned up their act a bit, and all is well. A number of the big offenders have simply ignored the city.
No more, says the local DA. and they went after the biggest of the offenders who is accused of owing over $400,000 in back taxes. This guy is being arraigned and will stand trial. Read all about it here.
City Treasurer Laura Chick was quoted in the LA Times: "Today we are sending a loud and clear message to scofflaws in the city
of Los Angeles that we are not sitting back and just watching, we are acting and we are going after them."
I’m against parking taxes on principle. I think they discriminate greatly == taxing only those who drive and who pay for the right to park — however that’s another story.
The problem with operators who don’t pay the tax is that they have a greatly unfair advantage over those that do, because they can under bid them and still make a large profit.
Legitimate operators see this as a major problem and actually cheer when the city finally steps up to the plate and does something about it.
This has been long in coming, but a welcome result.
J
