Mission Local is publishing campaign dispatches for each of the major contenders in the mayor’s race, alternating among candidates weekly until November. This week: Ahsha Safaí. Read earlier dispatches here.
Ahsha Safaí arrived at the Thursday “Yes on M” gathering at Castro Theater about twenty minutes late, missing his speaking slot for the measure that would change San Francisco’s business tax structure, making the city rely less on companies’ payroll expenses.
Instead, it would be more dependent on the revenue a company earns in the city. As a result, It would remove the tax incentives for businesses to keep workers out of the city.
This proposition would also change the threshold of a small business exempt from gross receipt taxes, from $2.25 million to $5 million. And, a number of fees that small businesses pay would be eliminated.
In effect, as Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi described, “The fattest cats will get a break. And so will the thinnest cats. But you know who won’t get a break? The in-between cats.”
Among the ballot measures, Prop. M has raised the second-largest amount of money, or $1.4 million, following Prop. D’s $2.3 million. That measure would expand the power of the mayor and the police chief, and limit commissions.
As Castro residents walked past the gathering with their dogs and morning coffee — some mumbling about how politicians always occupy the sidewalk — several politicos spoke in support of Prop. M: Sen. Scott Wiener, Carrie Barnes, the vice chair of the Democratic County Central Committee and Daniel Lurie, one of the frontrunners in the mayoral race.
“I won’t get too political,” Lurie said. Except, everything seemed political at this time 26 days from the election. “But I will just say, as mayor, I’m going to be in the business of serving the small businesses.”
Wiener left soon after his speech. Lurie took off after the group photo. Safaí made it up by sticking around for about an hour, walking up to stores and talking to merchants — about Prop. M but also about his mayoral campaign.
At a small Vietnamese restaurant, Castro Tarts, Safaí pulled up a spreadsheet of fees eliminated for businesses, if Prop. M passes.
“I just want to show you all the fees that are eliminated,” Safaí said to the owner. “It’s going to save thousands of dollars a year.”
But there is a poison pill in Prop. M. It may nullify Prop. L, another ballot measure which would tax ride-hail companies and robotaxis to fund Muni.
In the 110-page long ballot measure, if another tax reform measure appears on the same ballot, and Prop. M receives more votes, it will void the other measure — in this case, Prop. L, the other tax measure.
However, if both propositions are approved with more than 50 percent of the vote, but Prop. L receives more votes than Prop. M, both will take effect.
As of Oct. 10, the Yes on L campaign has received $301,677, while the No on Prop. L campaign has taken in $912,838 in opposition, according to campaign finance filings.
The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce’s PAC, one of the major supporters of Prop. M, donated $4,000 to oppose Prop. L, while giving $245,000 to support Prop. M.
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