EDITORIAL SPARE CHANGE CITY BUSINESS-TAX REFORM PLAN AMOUNTS TO LITTLE.

THE businesses of Los Angeles are like the homeless that roam the city's streets. After years of sticking their hands out for spare change, they're grateful for whatever they can get.

That's why the business community is so giddy about the piddling, 15 percent-over-five-years cut that's won the approval of the City Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Tax Reform.

Sure, the modest reduction will be appreciated, and the plan, which simplifies the tax code by reducing 45 categories to seven, is an improvement. For those businesses in L.A. it's certainly better than nothing.

But for businesses outside L.A. - including those that fled long ago - will it be enough to make the city appealing again?

Not even close. The tax code is still too onerous, City Hall's anti-business mentality too ingrained, to bring in the jobs L.A. needs.

Sure, the Los Angeles business community is happy to just be acknowledged. But to make L.A. business-friendly again, city leaders will need to give up a lot more than the loose change in their pockets.

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DAILY NEWS 2004 ENDORSEMENTS