San Francisco businesses breathed a sigh of relief today as voters rejected Prop. J Tuesday, turning down a 2 percent increase to San Francisco's hotel tax. If Prop. J passed, the hotel tax increase would have affected businesses throughout the City, not just hotels.
"Small businesses, local restaurants, San Francisco hotels and the Chamber of Commerce all want to thank the voters of San Francisco for rejecting Proposition J that would have harmed the City’s number one industry from rebuilding after the recession and offering new jobs and new opportunities," said Kate Ryken from Economic Recovery SF, a coalition of San Francisco business organizations that opposed the measure.
Prop. J would have hiked San Francisco’s current 15.5 percent hotel tax by 2 percent, making the City's hotel tax the highest in the nation at 17.5 percent. The spike would have made San Francisco unaffordable for many potential visitors, meeting and conference planners, and would have resulted in the loss of more than 2,000 union jobs in S.F., according to the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
"We are pleased that San Franciscans voted NO on Proposition J. This ill-conceived initiative would have not only cost the City millions of dollars in visitors and meetings and conventions spending which translates to decrease in revenue for the City and job loss,” said Patricia Breslin, executive director of Hotel Council of San Francisco. “This is an important time for San Francisco. Our businesses are just starting to get their economic footing again and Prop. J would have halted their progress."
Indeed, increasing taxes is not the right decision at any level right now. The economy, from a jobs perspective, is just too weak at this point in time.
Stay tuned.
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