San Francisco just voted down a union-backed tax hike, and it was not close. In the bluest major city in America, 54 percent of voters looked at the “Overpaid CEO Tax” and said no.
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Measure D lost 53.64 to 46.36 percent, according to San Francisco Department of Elections results. The unions wanted to expand the city’s existing CEO pay ratio tax, which already hits large companies when a top executive earns more than 100 times the median worker. Under Measure D, the formula would have compared executive pay against a company’s entire national workforce, not just its San Francisco employees, while also raising the tax rates.
Supporters promised the measure would bring in $250 to $300 million a year for city services. The city’s own analysis found it would have killed roughly 940 jobs. Earlier this year, 60 percent of San Francisco voters told pollsters they supported the measure. Nancy Pelosi endorsed it. A supermajority of the Board of Supervisors backed it. Then they saw the 940 jobs number.
Read More: Billionaire Exodus: Leftists’ Wishes in Jeopardy As CA Tax Push Risks Little Revenue
From Paychecks to Slush Fund: How Teachers’ Unions Moved $1B Into Democrat Politics
San Francisco has spent years watching employers leave for Austin, Miami, and elsewhere. Voters were not interested in speeding that up.
Mayor Daniel Lurie opposed the measure, arguing it would hurt the city’s recovery. Tech leaders and business groups lined up against it, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin and DoorDash co-founder Tony Xu, who each spent hundreds of thousands against it. Chris Larsen and Mike Moritz also helped fund the fight, along with companies including Williams-Sonoma, Visa, and Meta. All told, the opposition spent about $7 million.
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Chris Larsen, co-founder of Ripple and a major Democratic donor who helped fund the opposition, said:
“San Franciscans want real solutions to the affordability crisis facing our city, and they want those solutions built through partnership, not conflict.”
The unions have an explanation: corporate money. Not the 940 jobs. Not the employers already gone. Not the city’s own analysis. Not the fact that they rejected a compromise offer of $100 to $150 million, blew past Lurie’s pleas, and submitted the measure two days before the filing deadline. Billionaires did it. Also Trump.
Scott Mann, spokesperson for the SEIU-backed pro-D campaign, said:
“A sad day for San Francisco when Mayor Lurie partnered with billionaires and corporations who received massive tax cuts from the Trump administration.”
This is the same city that recalled progressive D.A. Chesa Boudin, fired three school board members, and elected Lurie to clean up the mess. San Francisco voters have been sending the same message for three years. Tuesday was just the latest delivery.
Business groups are already using the result as a model for defeating a statewide billionaire tax that SEIU is pushing for November. “Eat the rich” polls well when the question is abstract. It polls differently when voters are looking at a specific jobs number in their own city.
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San Francisco still has serious problems. Homelessness, crime, and empty storefronts were not fixed on Tuesday. Lurie said it best:
“Voters recognize that our recovery depends on creating opportunity through jobs, thriving small businesses and attracting investment, not making it harder for employers to grow here.”
Sacramento has a statewide version of this fight coming in November. The unions had a compromise on the table, walked away from it, and lost anyway. Sacramento should file that away.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
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