Proponents for San Francisco’s Prop D argue that large companies like Google should contribute more to the city’s tax base. In reality, Prop D won’t really tax the people and companies voters imagine it will.

Back in 2024, San Francisco moderate and progressive politicians, unions, small businesses and the Chamber of Commerce came together to agree on a seemingly indecent proposal: They would give large employers like Google, and small businesses with under $5 million in sales, a tax break to help stabilize the city’s flailing post-pandemic economy.

That effort culminated in Proposition M, which passed with nearly 70% of the vote in the November election.

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Nearly two years later, the compromise seems to be working. Anecdotally, we can see the results in declining office and retail vacancies and more activity downtown. More concretely, the city’s projected budget hole over the next two years has shrunk by $293.8 million, due in part to increased general fund revenues from business growth.

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Yet budget woes remain — and a citizen ballot measure in the June primary sponsored by Service Employees International Union asks San Francisco voters to light the 2024 compromise on fire to bring in more tax money, fast.  

Prop D, also known as the Overpaid CEO Act, wouldn’t actually make overpaid CEO’s fork over a cent. Instead, it would rewrite much of Prop M’s reforms by increasing taxes on businesses with at least 1,000 employees globally, $1 billion in........

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