<story><title>San Francisco voters approve taxes on highly paid CEOs, big businesses</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-11-05/san-francisco-voters-approve-taxes-on-ceos-big-businesses</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kmtrowbr</author><text>I have lived in San Francisco since 2005. Over the time I&amp;#x27;ve lived here, we&amp;#x27;ve had the opposite problem: lots of highly paid tech firms moving into SF. This has changed the nature of San Francisco in a way that many dislike,  including me. I was initially attracted to San Francisco because, it was chill, it was beautiful, and it had a lot of eccentric, really interesting people. Many of our good friends had to leave over the years as SF has becoming more unlivable because rents have gone up so much, and also it&amp;#x27;s just not as fun, it&amp;#x27;s crowded and stressed.&lt;p&gt;I am aware that I am a part of the problem: my wife and I are white, yuppie, dink tech workers. :)&lt;p&gt;These issues are complex.&lt;p&gt;I voted yes on Proposition L: the tax is quite small and I think the tech firms are unlikely to leave, meanwhile SF can get more taxes from them (many of them were historically given tax breaks, like Twitter, to move into the mid-market area). If they do leave, I don&amp;#x27;t see that as a bad thing.&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile socioeconomic disparity is an oozing sore in San Francisco, we have billionaires rubbing elbows with homeless people every day. Nationally, we&amp;#x27;ve had round after round of tax cuts for the wealthiest, if SF wants to tax excessive income disparity, I say, fair enough.</text></item><item><author>umeshunni</author><text>More likely, this will just result in businesses continuing to leave San Francisco.&lt;p&gt;The pandemic has given most companies a good reason to do so already and my bet is on most of them not returning to their overpriced San Francisco headquarters when this is eventually over.</text></item><item><author>throwaway0a5e</author><text>Sounds like business will be booming for temp agencies as well as janitorial and facilities maintenance contractors.&lt;p&gt;Whatever the net positive here is wholly negated by the number of stable long term jobs that are going to go away and be replaced by whoever the body shop chooses to send that day.  Working for these middle men really sucks compared to working for whoever the service is being provided for (and I say that from experience).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>macspoofing</author><text>&amp;gt;we&amp;#x27;ve had the opposite problem: lots of highly paid tech firms moving into SF.&lt;p&gt;Quite the problem ... the kind of problem that multitudes of cities and regions in the world are desperately trying to recreate.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;This has changed the nature of San Francisco in a way that many dislike, including me.&lt;p&gt;This is where progressives don&amp;#x27;t live up to their name. The nature of cities is constant change. Meanwhile the activists are desperately trying to keep change to a minimum so that the character of neighborhoods never changes. It&amp;#x27;s an interesting dichotomy.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;because rents have gone up so much, and also it&amp;#x27;s just not as fun, it&amp;#x27;s crowded and stressed.&lt;p&gt;Rents will drop if you increase density ... but that would mean building higher density housing and thereby accepting that the character of cities and neighborhoods change.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;I am aware that I am a part of the problem: my wife and I are white, yuppie, dink tech workers. :)&lt;p&gt;The fact that you&amp;#x27;re white and a tech worker isn&amp;#x27;t the problem. It&amp;#x27;s that you had the opportunity to move to San Fransciso for work due to the tech boom, and now you&amp;#x27;re trying to pull the ladder up so others cannot do the same.</text></comment>
<story><title>San Francisco voters approve taxes on highly paid CEOs, big businesses</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-11-05/san-francisco-voters-approve-taxes-on-ceos-big-businesses</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kmtrowbr</author><text>I have lived in San Francisco since 2005. Over the time I&amp;#x27;ve lived here, we&amp;#x27;ve had the opposite problem: lots of highly paid tech firms moving into SF. This has changed the nature of San Francisco in a way that many dislike,  including me. I was initially attracted to San Francisco because, it was chill, it was beautiful, and it had a lot of eccentric, really interesting people. Many of our good friends had to leave over the years as SF has becoming more unlivable because rents have gone up so much, and also it&amp;#x27;s just not as fun, it&amp;#x27;s crowded and stressed.&lt;p&gt;I am aware that I am a part of the problem: my wife and I are white, yuppie, dink tech workers. :)&lt;p&gt;These issues are complex.&lt;p&gt;I voted yes on Proposition L: the tax is quite small and I think the tech firms are unlikely to leave, meanwhile SF can get more taxes from them (many of them were historically given tax breaks, like Twitter, to move into the mid-market area). If they do leave, I don&amp;#x27;t see that as a bad thing.&lt;p&gt;Meanwhile socioeconomic disparity is an oozing sore in San Francisco, we have billionaires rubbing elbows with homeless people every day. Nationally, we&amp;#x27;ve had round after round of tax cuts for the wealthiest, if SF wants to tax excessive income disparity, I say, fair enough.</text></item><item><author>umeshunni</author><text>More likely, this will just result in businesses continuing to leave San Francisco.&lt;p&gt;The pandemic has given most companies a good reason to do so already and my bet is on most of them not returning to their overpriced San Francisco headquarters when this is eventually over.</text></item><item><author>throwaway0a5e</author><text>Sounds like business will be booming for temp agencies as well as janitorial and facilities maintenance contractors.&lt;p&gt;Whatever the net positive here is wholly negated by the number of stable long term jobs that are going to go away and be replaced by whoever the body shop chooses to send that day.  Working for these middle men really sucks compared to working for whoever the service is being provided for (and I say that from experience).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cheriot</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve seen people take that position and I see a fundamental mistake. Look at rust belt cities. Look at NYC in the 70s. When employers leave the people left behind are not better off. This doesn&amp;#x27;t mean we need to kiss big tech ass, but we have a city where getting a job is a solved problem. Very few places on earth have that.&lt;p&gt;Rent prices are the underlying problem pushing people out. Underlying _that_ problem is a lack of supply. SF zoned for and issued permits for a large number of offices, but not the corresponding residential structures to house those new workers. So they came here and were forced to compete with existing residents for a place to live.&lt;p&gt;The fix is to keep the economic prosperity and build more housing.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Meanwhile socioeconomic disparity is an oozing sore in San Francisco&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d argue that mixed income neighborhoods are the best kind. Many of the mechanisms for disadvantaging poor communities require geographic segregation. School quality, policing practices, etc</text></comment>