Tech titans are quietly fuming over San Francisco’s proposed “tech tax”
A proposal to levy a 1.5% payroll tax on large San Francisco tech companies to fund affordable housing and programs for the homeless has exposed a growing economic rift in the city, and has some prominent figures in the tech industry predictably fuming.
But, as Inc. reports, while some tech entrepreneurs and investors are willing to take to Twitter to denounce the proposed tax, tech companies are so far declining to publicly comment on the potentially divisive measure, which supporters hope to put before voters in November’s election. For the moment, they’re letting the industry’s more outspoken individuals—and increasingly influential lobbying groups like the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology and Innovation—do the talking and Tweeting on their behalf.
Micah Weinberg, president of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, which counts Adobe, Airbnb, Google, Lyft, and many other tech companies among its members, told Inc. the tax is “another good example of tech scapegoating.” Here’s some of what others are saying on Twitter:
Taxing tech companies will simply drive jobs out of sf. Its solving a housing crisis by hurting an economy. https://t.co/D2HIER61Ap
— mark pincus (@markpinc) June 29, 2016
No, I have thoughts on how pathetic the leadership of San Francisco is… Zero. pic.twitter.com/6f3S66EFhA
— jason (@Jason) July 5, 2016
Tech companies: Screw the hassle you’re getting in contrarian SF; come to NYC, where you’re welcome.
https://t.co/mfQMAJo7eH— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) July 5, 2016