Voters in San Francisco just approved a new corporate tax, labeled Proposition C, on election day that is set to raise $300 million annually from the city’s largest corporations. The money taken from this tax will go directly towards homeless services, as San Francisco has long held the title as the most expensive city in the US and in North America.
San Francisco’s Proposition C
Proposition C is the largest corporate tax increase in San Fran history, CNBC reports. The new measure passed with almost 60% of votes.
Prop C’s victory means the homeless will have a home & the help they truly need! Let the city come together in Love for those who need it most! There is no finish line when it come to helping the homeless. Thank you amazing supporters of Prop C! pic.twitter.com/0JOXCua1m1
— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) November 7, 2018
The CEO of Salesforce (NYSE:CRM), Marc Benioff, was thrilled when Proposition C passed, as you can see from his tweet above. Salesforce is based out of San Francisco and will be hit with the corporate tax, but it seems the company feels the money will be put to good use.
CNBC reported that Benioff donated more than $7.8 million in personal and corporate money to campaign for the proposition.
Not all San Francisco-based businesses felt that Proposition C was a win for the city. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square (NYSE:SQ) and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), had very different views from Benioff.
“We’re happy to pay our taxes. We just want to be treated fairly with respect to our peer companies, many of whom are 2-10x larger than us,” Dorsey wrote on October 19th. “Otherwise we don’t know how to practically grow in the city. That’s heartbreaking for us as we love SF and want to continue to help build it.”
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The tax will not be imposed on any corporations that bring in less than $50 million gross annual income.
Patrick Collison, co-founder and CEO of Stripe, called Proposition C “well intentioned” but said it “comes with no systemic changes or effective accountability.”
Even the city’s mayor opposed the new proposition due to lack of accountability and controls. It remains unknown at this time who will be heading up the funds collected, so, naturally, it’s not all smiles in the corporate bay area.
Featured Image: Depositphotos /© photographee.eu
