Business Carbon Tax Proposed In San Francisco

"The ballot measure would increase the city's 5 percent commercial utilities tax by an as-yet-undetermined amount to encourage energy-saving steps by hotels, offices and other nonresidential buildings...To keep the higher rates from becoming an economic drag on the city, the initiative would carry a corresponding decrease in the 1.5 percent payroll tax on for-profit businesses in San Francisco, according to the mayor."

"Last year, Boulder, Colo., became the first U.S. city to adopt a tax to combat global warming, specifically an electricity bill charge on kilowatt-hours used. Officials in Portland, Ore., last month proposed charging developers for every home they build that does not greatly exceed the city's energy efficiency building requirements."

"(Mayor)Newsom said that by tying the revenue from the proposed carbon tax to lower payroll taxes, his proposal would make San Francisco the first city taking a business friendly, "revenue-neutral" approach to the idea of pollution pricing."

"That's the exciting debate that is taking shape around this country — replacing a job hindrance tax with a tax that should be taxing something that is inherently bad, which is greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

"The plan, as it stands now, is to include a second payroll tax cut for businesses that succeed in getting more of their commuting employees to give up cars for public transportation, said Jared Blumenfeld, director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment.

A third piece of the carbon tax proposal would raise garbage collection and dumping fees for both homes and businesses on each bin of waste that is destined for a landfill instead of ready to be recycled, Blumenfeld said."