League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	San Francisco County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Proposition E Gross Receipts Tax San Francisco County Ordinance - Majority Approval Required Pass: 223887 / 70.75% Yes votes ...... 92577 / 29.25% No votes See Also: Index of all Propositions

Arguments For Proposition E

Arguments Against Proposition E

Prop E Means Fair Business Taxes, More Good Jobs and Better City Services San Francisco's current business payroll tax is fundamentally unfair because it is a tax on jobs instead of a tax on sales or profits. That means now, every time a local business hires a new employee, its taxes increase ++ a huge disincentive to creating new jobs in San Francisco. The current payroll tax is a flat tax, so the biggest corporations and most profitable industries now pay the same rate as small neighborhood businesses and struggling startups. Proposition E fixes our unfair tax system and replaces it with one that will help small businesses and startups create more jobs. Prop E also will provide a more predictable and steady source of revenue to fund key public safety, affordable housing and public health programs and may even allow us to restore recent cuts to MUNI service. Prop E is fair because it only applies the gross receipts tax to businesses with more than $1 million in annual sales, exempting most small businesses, sole proprietors and small residential property owners. An extraordinarily broad coalition, led by Mayor Ed Lee, Board President David Chiu and Supervisor John Avalos, crafted the Prop E reform. Prop E is endorsed by: every member of the Board of Supervisors; the San Francisco Labor Council; the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce; San Francisco Firefighters; sf. citi, the organization of local tech employers; SFMade, the coalition of San Francisco-based small manufacturers, and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Vote YES on Prop E. Mayor Edwin M. Lee David Chiu, President; Board of Supervisors John Avalos David Campos Carmen Chu Malia Cohen Sean Elsbernd Mark Farrell Jane Kim Eric Mar Christina Olague Scott Wiener Board of Supervisors Rebuttal to Arguments For Prop E: MORE Taxes, MORE City Hall Waste, HIGHER Prices and FEWER Jobs Proposition E, a 60-page, $28.5 million tax increase rushed onto the ballot just before the deadline, proposes a gross receipts tax as "fairer" (as if government taking more money is fair). Proponents are correct; the current payroll tax discourages job creation. When you tax something, you get less of it. Proposition E acknowledges this by exempting businesses with under $1 million in gross receipts. But medium and large companies employ thousands of San Franciscans. Yet E wants to tax receipts so companies pay ever higher percentages as they succeed. By this City Hall effectively says it doesn't want businesses to grow and stay._ The mayor and Supervisors complain the current tax "provides unstable revenue" But rather than replace the flat payroll tax with a flat gross receipts tax bringing in equal revenue (a measure we wouldn't oppose) City Hall got greedy with Proposition E. If E passes they might be surprised how unstable revenues can be if businesses leave rather than sticking around to be fleeced. Taxes on business don't just affect rich people. They are passed on to the public in the form of higher prices, lower wages, and fewer jobs. That means people buying everything from Giants tickets to milk will pay. Politicians benefit from distributing funds to their friends, letting YOU pay the bills. Tell City Hall you want REAL tax reform, not an imposter. Vote NO on E. Libertarian Party of San Francisco

Libertarians oppose Proposition E, which replaces the gross payroll tax with a gross receipts tax. One of the arguments for this change is that the gross payroll tax is a tax on hiring employees which reduces employment. The proponents of Proposition E are explicitly recognizing that taxing an economic activity will reduce it. Therefore, a tax on gross receipts will reduce gross receipts in SF. Businesses will waste valuable resources trying to move activity out of The City, instead of producing goods and services customers want to buy. Reducing gross receipts will indirectly reduce employment just as sure as gross payroll tax since money paid in taxes is not available to be used to hire employees. The gross receipts tax is estimated to raise more revenue for the government than the gross payroll tax. This is an economic drain on the private sector that we cannot afford in hard times. In the private sector business and households earn revenue by providing goods and services that other people want to pay for. Governments raise revenue by confiscation and threats of violence. In the private sector there is a real relationship between revenue earned and wealth created, but in the public sector there is no such relationship. Compensation in the public sector soars out of control because the payers cannot easily cut off the flow of money. Vote NO on Proposition E. Libertarian Party of San Francisco Rebuttal to Arguments Against San Francisco's Small Businesses and Startups Support Prop E San Francisco's business community has led the effort to reform the City's business tax structure and eliminate the payroll tax, which taxes the wages of businesses' San Francisco workers and discourages businesses from hiring additional employees in San Francisco. Prop E replaces the payroll tax with a gross receipts tax -- a tax on gross sales, not jobs. Local business leaders support Prop E because it stands for: EMPLOYMENT. Prop E means more jobs for San Franciscans. By replacing San Francisco's payroll tax, the impartial City Controller's analysis says Prop E will create thousands of new jobs. EXEMPTING SMALL BUSINESS. Under Prop E, only businesses that earn more than $1 million in gross receipts annually will pay the tax. ESSENTIAL SERVICES. Prop E will provide additional funding for vital services, such as police and fire protection, affordable housing, MUNI service and neighborhood economic development. Vote YES on E for fairer business taxes and better City services. San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Chinese Chamber of Commerce San Francisco Council of District Merchants sf.citi, the Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation SFMade, Supporting and Promoting San Francisco Manufacturing SPUR