SF Measure Taxing Wealthy Businesses For Homeless Services Becomes Law; State Supreme Court Denies Challenge
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Prop C, the 2018 initiative that taxes wealthy San Francisco businesses to pay for homeless services, became law Wednesday after the California Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to it.
Prop C, which implements a .5% tax on businesses making over $50 million a year, passed in 2018 with more than 61 percent of the vote.
But the law's been held up in the courts by lawsuits filed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the anti-tax lobbyists. The group claimed that the tax needed two-thirds of the vote to pass, but the state court of appeals rejected this argument back in June.
Now that the state supreme court refused to hear the case, the city can collect an estimated $300 million in fees for services supporting San Francisco's homeless population.
Proponents of the measure celebrated on social media.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association had not released a statement by press time.
