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San Francisco Voters To Decide Local Sales Tax Hike

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - San Francisco voters must decide this November whether to approve a ½-cent sales tax increase to replace a state sales tax surcharge that expired earlier this summer.

Mayor Ed Lee said the revenue would be dedicated to services for children and seniors and for public safety.

"It'll give us about a $60 million cushion. It'll be half of what was reduced on July 1," he said.

KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:

If approved, San Francisco's sales tax would go back up to 9½ percent.

The supervisors voted unanimously to put it on the ballot.

Lee promised to campaign aggressively for the sales tax measure to pass, noting many state-funded health and social service programs instead depend on money from county governments now that the sales tax surcharge was gone.

"While we wouldn't like to have to do it, we must do it for our financial health," he said.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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