EDITORIAL GREATER REFORMS NEEDED STUDY FINDS L.A. REMAINS AN ANTI-BUSINESS CITY DESPITE SMALL TAX CUTS.

REMEMBER business-tax reform? It was the great idea that percolated in Los Angeles City Hall for the better part of a decade.

Lots of politicians paid lip service to making L.A. less of a business-hostile environment, but few were willing to endure any changes that would cause even a short-term loss of revenue. Then came City Council members Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, who overcame the resistance of the self-serving City Hall ruling class to win a series of small reforms.

But it should come as no surprise that the watered-down reform plan the city adopted didn't do much to change L.A.'s reputation as a city hostile to business.

The Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey finds that business-tax reform in L.A. was ``cosmetic.'' Taxwise, L.A. remains an oftentimes prohibitively expensive place to set up shop.

The survey found L.A. to be the nation's 16th-most-expensive place to do business, second only to San Francisco in California. No wonder so many large corporations choose Burbank, Orange County or even Santa Monica over L.A. -- not to mention the countless others that leave California altogether.

That's not to say that everything about the city's business-tax reform was wrong: There were tax breaks for Hollywood, the incomprehensible system of nine tax categories was ``simplified'' to just seven and businesses making less than $100,000 a year were let off the hook entirely. These changes were worthwhile, but not even close to enough to repair Los Angeles' reputation.

Incredulous at the survey's results, Garcetti's press secretary, Josh Kamensky, says, ``I defy you to tell me how eliminating a tax for 60 percent of the businesses is cosmetic.''

The reason is simple. Many of those in the 60 percent -- tiny operations like hot-dog vendors and makeup artists -- weren't paying taxes to begin with. Taking them off the books didn't change the fundamentals.

That's to say, the change was, yes, ``cosmetic.'' Business-tax reform was a small step forward, but there's still a lot more that needs to be done to improve L.A.'s business climate.