Barter System

Today in the state of California, our sales tax increases at a state level to 8.75%. Add local sales tax and places like Los Angeles county, for example, will have sales tax of 9.25% And then there's Pico Rivera . . .

Bill Medrano is more attuned than most Pico Rivera residents to a series of sales tax increases that -- starting today -- will push the rate in his blue-collar suburb to nearly 11%, the highest in the state and one of the steepest in the nation.

To avoid cuts in crime-fighting and other services, city voters last year agreed to impose a 1% local sales tax on top of Los Angeles County's 8.25% rate. A few months later, lawmakers piled on another 1% statewide to bail Sacramento out of its fiscal crisis. Both increases take effect today.

A half-cent boost in the countywide sales tax will kick in July 1, thanks to last fall's voter-approved transportation measure, Measure R.

I'm gonna buy me some chickens . . . so I can use the eggs for barter. You need a Judgment written for an uncontested divorce? I'll charge a flat fee and if you can come and fix my central air conditioning in my home, we'll shake hands and call it a deal. Hell, my husband will even fix some BBQ for your lunch while you're working.