San Francisco voters will decide in June 2026 on Proposition D, a ballot measure branded as an "Overpaid CEO Tax" that critics say would actually impose an 800% gross receipts tax hike on grocery stores, pharmacies, and coffee shops while exempting major tech companies. The measure's fine print shifts the pay-ratio calculation to global employees, meaning low-wage retailers like Safeway face dramatically higher rates while firms paying high median salaries—like Google—owe nothing. The debate sits alongside a broader fight over downtown recovery, with opponents arguing that punishing tax increases are the last thing San Francisco needs as it tries to hold onto its lead as the only major U.S. tech hub still growing startup formation.
Prop D's 800% rate hike exempts every major tech company while hitting grocery stores, pharmacies, and coffee shops hard.
Tom Steyer renamed a 1978 Democratic law after Donald Trump and called it a plan. The loophole is real. The history, and the math, are not.
San Francisco is the only tech hub in America with growing startup formation—and city hall is doing everything it can to drive companies out.
SF Chronicle says murals can revive empty buildings. Meanwhile, the city's about to make it impossible to do business downtown.
It doesn't tax CEOs. It's an 800% gross receipts hike that hits Safeway shoppers while executives pay nothing.
Unions want an 800% tax increase disguised as class warfare—and they're breaking a deal they made just last year.
Labor coalition wants an 800% tax hike while 1/3 of downtown sits empty. They're breaking the deal they made last year.