After Seattle’s recent enactment of an employee head count tax to combat an acute housing shortage blamed on the rapid growth of Amazon and other high tech companies, cities in Silicon Valley are moving forward with similar proposals.
Mountain View, home to Alphabet, Intuit Inc., and LinkedIn, has proposed a tax that could cost major local employers between $250 and $300 a head. The city council is expected to vote on the bill next month.
Palo Alto's city council recently voted to send a tax measure to voters in November that would raise levies on hotel rooms and on real estate transactions. The taxes could affect tech businesses buying new offices and visitors doing business with them. The city failed to pass a direct business tax almost a decade ago.
In San Francisco, a coalition of non-profit organizations is spearheading an effort to tax companies 0.5% on earnings of more than $50 million. Seattle will tax large employers $275 per employee for a total expected to be about $50 million.
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | Jun 3, 2019
Florida may eliminate certificate of need requirement for new hospitals
Bill could boost specialized facilities.
Codes and Standards | May 31, 2019
RELi 2.0 standard for sustainability, resilience being piloted
Will be open to LEED-registered or -certified projects, with introductory pricing and support.
Codes and Standards | May 31, 2019
Pankow Foundation releases report, tools for embodied carbon impacts
Focus is on MEP and tenant improvements.
Codes and Standards | May 24, 2019
USGBC receives funding for LEED for Cities and Communities Program
Bank of America provides $500,000 grant to certify 15 U.S. cities.
Codes and Standards | May 24, 2019
AIA updates Interiors Contract Documents
Six revised documents available for interior construction projects.
Codes and Standards | May 23, 2019
Northern California casino offers a template for resilient microgrids
Solar power with batteries and backup generators provide weeks of self-reliance.
Codes and Standards | May 23, 2019
Austin creates innovative plan to boost affordable housing
Approach includes loosened zoning, incentives for higher density in lower-cost and mixed-income developments.
Codes and Standards | May 20, 2019
Effort launched to develop better process for zero-carbon retrofits in multifamily sector
Rocky Mountain Institute, Dept. of Energy, California Energy Commission join forces.
Codes and Standards | May 20, 2019
Property lenders shouldn’t invest for 30 years in most of Florida, expert warns
Climate ignorance driving some ‘insane’ deals.
Codes and Standards | May 17, 2019
NIMBYism is the biggest multifamily construction barrier
National Apartment Assn. report assesses reasons for difficulty in creating more apartments.