SAN FRANCISCO—A new tax will be on the upcoming ballot in November. This would apply to companies where the gap between the salary of the CEO and other workers is the largest. It is titled the Overpaid Executive Tax, and includes companies where the CEO receives 100 times that of the average employee. In those cases, if passed the corporation would be taxed an additional .1 percent of their annual business taxes. If the disparity is larger, then the tax is larger. This proposal comes from San Francisco District 6 Supervisor, Matt Haney along with four other cosponsors. The beginning of this new tax would take place in 2022.
The city’s plan for these additional funds received would be to apply them towards healthcare needs. Haney said, “We’re going to put those resources to good use by hiring thousands of healthcare workers that this city needs to get us through the pandemic. These health workers just saved the lives of countless San Franciscans, and we absolutely still need them to be there for all of us.”
In May, the average salary of a CEO in San Francisco was $1,021,992. While the overall average salary was $97,000. While the amounts of CEO’s salaries have grown tremendously in the past few decades, the rate that the average worker’s salary has increased has not matched this. The Overpaid Executive Tax is a way to combat this, and raise necessary funds for the city at the same time.
