The End of Payroll Tax in San Francisco?

According to the Huffington Post article,  San Francisco Payroll Tax: Mayor Lee Proposes Sweeping Change To City’s Tax System, San Francisco receives $400 Million a year from the Payroll Tax which Mayor Ed Lee is looking to scrap.

The Mayor wants to make sure San Francisco is not passed up when companies think about hiring new employees.  Reducing or getting rid of the Payroll Tax would make it cheaper to employ more people in San Francisco.  More employees means more demand for office space, and more need for housing.  San Francisco is already becoming the place tech employees want to live; it’s where everything is happening, particularly if you are young and want to enjoy city life.  I grew up on the peninsula, going out in San Francisco is far different from going out on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

People working at Apple, Google, and other tech companies have a real desire to live in SF even if it means commuting.  There’s an increasing interest in areas in or around Potrero Hill, Bernal Heights, Noe Valley, Mission-Dolores (the area around Dolores Park), Glen Park, and the Mission District, although the inventory of viable properties is amazingly low.  My guess is new developments like 299 Valencia (at 14th Street) will be getting a lot of interest, as will all the other properties going up in the area, and there are quite a few.

Hopefully some of the changes being proposed by the Mayor will bring new life to the Mid-Market area between 5th Street and Van Ness as well.  Big hopes are being placed on Twitter’s move to Market Street and 10th.

Here’s another article on NBC Bay Area less positive about the changes being proposed to San Francisco’s Tax Plan:  SF Tech Firms Want Retail, Real Estate To Bear Tax Burden.