LOCAL MEASURES

CSF Recommendation:

Vote NO on Prop C

PROP C: Decreases to Business Taxes

Bottom Line: Prop C is an attempt to thwart some of the pain points of Prop D (below) by exempting some businesses from the Overpaid ExecutiveTax, but it also returns the tax rates to the 2020 version, not the 2024 Prop M adjustment. VOTE NO. 

Summary

Summary Overview

Measure C (Decreases to Business Taxes 2026)

  • Reverts the tax code back to Prop L 2020 rates, erasing the blunting factor of 2024’s Prop M.

  • Raises the exemption threshold from $5M to $7.5M, so a handful of businesses would be excluded from the Overpaid CEO tax.

  • Could be modified by the Board of Supervisors if either reducing the tax or for technical fixes.

Fiscal Impact

Official Digest

How it landed on the ballot: Prop C reached the ballot through the citizen initiative process spearheaded by Rodney Fong, President/CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, and is supported by AdvanceSF, Bay Area Council, Golden Gate Restaurant Association, Hotel Council of San Francisco, and the SF Tech Council.

WHY NO ON PROP C?

Let’s start with the obvious: “Decreases to Business Taxes” is not as simple as its name suggests. “Decreases” sounds nice. The reality? It’s more of a tax re-mix than a tax cut.

Prop C tweaks the system voters just approved under Proposition M (2024), which was supposed to stabilize San Francisco’s business taxes after years of economic whiplash. Instead of blowing that up completely, like Prop D below, Prop C nudges it, lowering some taxes while quietly dialing the CEO pay tax back up from where Prop M left it. 

Prop C is a NO vote for us because…

This so-called “business-friendly” measure still raises the CEO Ratio tax compared to today’s baseline.

Despite the recent vibe change, San Francisco is dealing with empty office towers, a stubbornly slow recovery, and a tax base that’s…let’s just say, “fragile.” Against that backdrop, Prop C reads less like a grand solution and more like a calculated compromise with tax-happy San Francisco voters. In short: if you’re looking for a meaningful decrease in business taxes, Prop C isn’t it. It’s a muddled middle path. Whether that’s pragmatic or ill-advised depends on your perspective. Ours is…VOTE NO.