Back in the fall of 2022, Los Angeles voters passed a referendum for a “mansion tax” that would impose a new transaction tax on any real estate sale in excess of $5 million. The measure passed with nearly 58% of the vote, and owners of luxury homes were selling their properties as quickly as they could to avoid being hit with a success penalty.

The money was suppose to help address issues related to the area’s serious homelessness problems.  Subsequently, luxury house sales plummeted and the “mansion tax”  has only raised a fraction of the lofty fiscal target promised to the voters.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is pleading with “the most fortunate” to help fund housing for the homeless. She is calling it an “unprecedented partnership.”

“We will not hide people but what we will do is house people,” the Democratic leader touted as she began her remarks on the city’s struggle to house over 40,000 homeless people. “The crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster.”...