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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 18 July 2018

San Francisco to consider tax on companies to help homeless

By JANIE HAR November ballot asking
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — voters to authorize a tax on
San Francisco voters will de- Google and other compa-
cide in November whether nies with employees in the
to tax large businesses to Silicon Valley city.
pay for homeless and hous- It's unclear which compa-
ing services, an issue that nies in San Francisco would
set off a battle in another be affected and how hard
West Coast city struggling by the additional tax on
with income inequality. gross receipts. Jim Laza-
The city elections depart- rus, senior vice president
ment verified Monday that of public policy for the
supporters had collected San Francisco Chamber of
enough signatures to get Commerce, estimates up
the measure on the bal- to 1,000 businesses gener-
lot. It would raise about ate more than $50 million a In this Feb. 23, 2016 file photo, a man stands outside his tent on Division Street in San Francisco.
$300 million a year — dou- year. The companies could Associated Press
bling what San Francisco include Twitter, which de-
spends on homelessness — clined to comment Mon-
for more shelter beds and day. Other companies that groups. Up to half of the Jason McDaniel, a political panies don't have the
housing for people who are could be affected, such as money raised would go to- science professor at San same kind of relationship to
homeless or at risk of be- Uber, pharmaceutical dis- ward permanent housing, Francisco State University, the political establishment
coming so. tributor McKesson Corp., from rental subsidies to new says it is likely to pass unless as they do in Seattle," he
The money would come Google, Apple and Ama- housing. Up to a quarter political leaders band to- said. "There's no Amazon
from an average half-per- zon did not respond to re- would go toward mental gether to block it. here. It's not like a compa-
cent tax increase on com- quests for comment. health services. "I suspect that local com- ny town."q
panies' revenue above $50 Other businesses that could
million each year. be affected include de-
Homelessness is a major partment stores, supermar-
problem in San Francisco, kets, law firms and clothing
as well as other cities on makers such as Levi Strauss
the West Coast with grow- & Co., Lazarus said. The
ing numbers of high-paying chamber will likely oppose
tech jobs that price lower- the measure.
income residents out of a Marc Benioff, founder and
shrinking housing supply. chief executive of cloud-
San Francisco's new mayor, computing company
London Breed, vowed to Salesforce, has urged oth-
clear the streets of its tent ers in the tech community
camps within a year of tak- to help address the city's
ing office. problems with homeless-
"I think the city is really ness.
ready for this," said Chris- The city's largest tech em-
tin Evans, a San Francisco ployer said in a statement
small-business owner and that it has given more than
one of three petitioners on $4 million to the cause and
the measure. "We have a that it is "evaluating the po-
lot of momentum behind tential ballot measure to
us, and more than a major- carefully assess its merits in
ity of the voting population addressing this important is-
is renters. We're polling very sue."
well." San Francisco voters last
Seattle leaders last month month also approved an
repealed a tax on large increase in the gross re-
employers that was meant ceipts tax on commercial
to fund homelessness ser- buildings and warehouses
vices after Amazon pushed to fund universal child care.
back. The upcoming ballot mea-
But south of San Francisco, sure is backed by a coali-
Mountain View's City Coun- tion that includes home-
cil got a measure on the lessness and gay rights