Peskin ballot measure would reinstate big business gross receipts tax

By Pat Murphy

June 14, 2006

San Francisco large businesses will return to paying both a payroll tax and a gross receipts tax under a November ballot measure proposed Tuesday.

District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin said his ballot measure would raise some $55 million in addition City revenues.

The Board of Supervisors eliminated the gross receipts tax in 2001 when large businesses sued the City. The lawsuit alleged large businesses were treated unequally by a tax system which imposed a payroll tax or gross receipts tax.

Supervisors eliminated the gross receipts tax in 2001 rather than permit the lawsuit to go forward.

Peskin, who now serves as president of the board, voted with the majority in 2001 to eliminate the gross receipts tax.

Lost City revenues of approximately $27 million annually since 2001 could have been used for needed services such as public transit improvements, Peskin's office reported.

His new proposal would tax business with more than $2 million in gross receipts one-tenth of one percent on revenues above that amount in addition to the payroll tax they now pay.

Spokesmen for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the Committee on Jobs - which represents San Francisco's largest employers - said they were not consulted on the measure.

Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday had no comment on the measure.

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