For immediate release
April 30, 2025

For More Information:
Aidan Chao
[email protected]
626-693-8899

LOS ANGELES — S&P Global Ratings has downgraded the City of Los Angeles’ bond ratings, citing a “weakening financial position” and “emerging structural imbalance” as city leaders attempt to close a nearly $1 billion deficit. The general obligation bonds were lowered from AA to AA-, and lease revenue bonds from AA- to A+.

The Los Angeles County Taxpayers Association (LACTA) is raising the alarm on what working families and local businesses have known for years: the city’s tax-and-spend agenda is unsustainable, irresponsible, and driving the very people who fund the system — job creators, homeowners, and wage earners — out of Los Angeles.

“This downgrade isn’t a shock — it’s the direct result of decades of fiscal mismanagement, broken promises, and policies that punish the very people keeping the city afloat,” said LACTA Chairman Aidan Chao.

In recent years, Los Angeles has gained national attention for wasteful spending, including $837,000 spent to build a single homeless housing unit, and hundreds of millions in unaccounted departmental expenditures flagged by the City Controller. Despite a shrinking middle class, city leaders have doubled down on high taxes and runaway bureaucracy, pushing measures like the real estate transfer tax (Measure ULA), while failing to address pension debt or personnel costs.

S&P has warned that further downgrades may occur if structural changes aren’t made. Mayor Bass has proposed layoffs and is seeking a state bailout — but LACTA says those are band-aids on a deeper wound.

“Until L.A. commits to real reform — starting with spending discipline, tax relief, and accountability — the city will continue to spiral,” Chao said.

LACTA is urging city leaders to halt all new tax proposals and instead pursue a fundamental overhaul of how Los Angeles governs and spends. Piecemeal fixes are no longer enough. The city needs a comprehensive restructuring — from budget priorities to labor agreements — to restore fiscal health, rebuild public trust, and stop the ongoing flight of businesses and working families.

For more information, visit www.LA-Tax.org.