May Tax Tech Voters Companies To Fight Homelessness: NPR

After years of economic growth driven by rapid growth, voters in the San Francisco Bay Area will decide this year if they are going to be more important.

The campaigns are an acknowledgment of the rapid growth of the growth of public transport and housing affordability in many cities.

Business groups who oppose the tax hikes argue the measures would give companies a reason to expand elsewhere, or even worse, leave the region altogether.

Past tax proposals in cities like Seattle, but the Bay Area, some major tech companies have embraced the tax hikes.

These supporters say the corporate philanthropy has been insufficient to take over the Bay Area's problems like homelessness and transportation. They argue that a steady funding stream must be created to pay for services.

"Molly Turner, a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, said:" There is certainly an inspiration to take advantage of the enormous prosperity we have in the region.

The debate has touched a nerve in San Francisco, where the clash of tech titans, divided political allies and the most controversial decision of the tenure.

Proposal C would double the city's revenue by raising the gross receipts tax on annual business revenue above $ 50 million.

The average half-percent increase in the tax would be roughly $ 300 million annually to help get San Franciscans off the street. Half of the money would go towards long-term fixed, like supportive housing, while the other half would go towards more immediate assistance, like shelters, mental health services and rental assistance.

"We just got this massive tax break from [President] Trump. The corporate rate went out of 35 percent to 21 percent, "said Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, which sponsored the measure.

San Francisco's homeless crisis

With San Francisco, most San Franciscans would have a home away from home. Less clear is what voters are willing to do to the problem.

The last two ballot measures, which is proposed for the purpose of raising money. One was a 2016 sales tax increase and the other a real estate tax on the ballot last June. Proposal C differs because it would be dedicate all the income it raises to homeless programs.

"What we've seen in the past is tinkering, and I do not think voters have a lot of patience for that," Friedenbach said. "They want to see big change."

It's estimated that 300 to 400 companies would pay the C tax hike proposal. These corporations already pay 57 percent of the taxes collected by San Francisco, according to a report from the Office of Economic Analysis.

Jim Lazarus, senior vice president of public policy at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said it would be a major burden on the region.

"When you lease it up we're leaving town," he said.

Similar warnings from Amazon pushed Seattle's City Council to give up their newly enacted business tax earlier this year.

Tech titans disagree

But San Francisco's largest private-sector employee, Salesforce, has taken a markedly different stance on C. Proposal The cloud computing giant has donated $ 4.7 million to the CEO on the other hand, with another $ 1 million coming from CEO Marc Benioff. This, despite Benioff's assertion that the company stands to pay more under the tax proposal.

To Benioff, the debate over the proposal and the CEOs who are not being socially responsible.

"What I found there are two kinds of people in San Francisco," he said in an interview. "There are people who are willing to give to their hearts and their wallets to support whatever society needs."

Benioff may have been referred to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, with whom Benioff traded jabs with over Proposition C. Dorsey argued that his company Square will be hurt by Salesforce.

Last week, Lyft and Macys joined Square to donate to the No on Prop. C campaign. It did not make much of a tooth. Thanks to Benioff, the "yes" side has raked in four times as much in contributions, according to the San Francisco Department of Elections.

A new mayor with her own plans

Benioff's stance on Proposition C has also caused a crack with a political ally: San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

Benioff said the need for sustained homelessness is best illustrated by a recent appointment. $ 8 million to acquire a site that could be used for affordable housing.

"She's out of money, her budget was fully extended," Benioff said. "The city has these shovel-ready projects ready to go and we can directly address these homeless people if we have more directed funding."

Breed disagrees with not only with the nature of that call. She said she asked Benioff for a quick donation because it would have been taken too long to secure the units. She also disagreed with the idea that San Francisco can not afford to pay to the economy of the city.

"Can big business pay more to support this? Yes, they can," Breed said.

"But things like a ballot measure more responsibly," she added. "Making sure that we are doing so, that they are not unattended consequences of job loss for middle-income residents." I mean manufacturing, retail, those are things that are important to San Francisco. "

"I want to make sure that I'm being held accountable for the decisions I make," she said. "Not the decisions that other people are making."

There was a chance of the heated debate on the proposal. Supporters are hoping that a recent state Supreme Court will allow the citizens' initiative to pass with a majority vote. Historically, local measures that require a two-thirds vote. There are challenges to the application of the supreme court rulings and a majority vote in favor of proposals.

Mountain View and East Palo Alto measures

The tax measures in Mountain View and East Palo Alto have come into force, but also reflect a shift towards demanding greater responsibility to the Bay Area's vexing housing and transportation problems.

Measure HH in East Palo Alto would have taxed large commercial office space at a rate of $ 2.50 per square foot for affordable housing.

Supporters are hoping to capitalize on the recent growth of Amazon in the city, and Facebook's expansion in nearby Menlo Park.

"We're just trying to protect our community and have a fair share of it," said Mayor Ruben Abrica. "We're trying to be proactive because we know that other development is going to take place."

Mountain View's tax is more heavily directed towards a single company: Google.

The proposed "head tax" in the United States, Revenue from the tax will go to the general fund, with the promise that it will be used for transportation.

The tax is expected to raise $ 6 million annually, with more than half coming from Google.

Google is not opposing the tax increase, and Mountain View Mayor Lenny Siegel said the search has been easier.

"They're a good corporate citizen but we can not bond their donations," he said. "So the tax will allow us to bond we can build the infrastructure that allows Google to get from Caltrain to the Googleplex."

In the past, tax breaks have been used to attract businesses

The demand for more investment from big business, and the particularity of the region's thriving tech companies, is a reversal of the policy conversations that took place in the Bay Area at the beginning of the decade.

Then, San Francisco changed its tax code to attract and retain businesses, with particular incentives for growing tech companies.

Many supporters of the Bay Area business taxes claims that those thriving corporations did not reciprocate the friendly policies.

"I do not see them as very civically involved, and I think they have to be," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has said she supports Proposal C.

"Like when I was mayor, the CEOs of the big banks – I could get in touch with any civic cause. Bank of America, Wells [Fargo], all of them said 'yes.' "

So instead of asking for philanthropy, the Bay Area measures to a greater extent of skin in the game towards local problems.

The question remains whether a proposal has been proposed, and is simply setting the stage for a fleeting victory.

"There is certainly a risk in this respect for a homeless service," said Molly Turner of the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. "If we have a correction or a recession in the near future, that's going to cut to our ability to fund those programs."