Friday, February 11, 2022

CREATIVE TAXATION IN THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF SAN FRANCISCO

by Bob Walsh

San Francisco is, if nothing else, creative in separating people from their money.  If you own undeveloped property (and there is a very small amount of such in SF) they charge you a tax for the rain that falls on your property (really) because undeveloped property does not have to pay storm drain / sewer hookup fees.  This totally ignores the fact that undeveloped property will tend to NOT shed rain but rather let it trickle back into the aquafer, but hey, that's not the issue.  

Now the City and County of San Francisco is preparing to enact an extra tax, in addition to the regular property taxes, on unoccupied residences.  

It may not work.  It has to be approved by the voters but there are a LOT more voters than property owners in San Francisco, so I am not making any bets on the outcome.

No comments: