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New Proposal Would Tax Tech Companies Seeing Big Profits During Pandemic

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A San Mateo County supervisor is urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to implement a temporary tax on some of the largest Silicon Valley tech companies that have seen big profits during the pandemic.

The revenue from the proposed “Pandemic Tech Tax” would go to state and local governments that are facing unprecedented deficits and potentially distributed to Californians as stimulus payments, according to San Mateo County District 5 Supervisor David Canepa, who authored a letter to Newsom pressing him to take on this issue.

This comes as a new report from the state’s Labor Department released Thursday found that nearly 5 million people have filed for unemployment insurance since March.

Canepa said tech companies that profit off of users' personal data should “do more” to help Californians hurt by the pandemic.

“[Amazon CEO] Jeff Bezos could write a check to the state of California for $54 billion and he could erase California's deficit — and still have through his net worth $100 hundred billion,” Canepa said.

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The governor’s proposed budget suggested cuts totaling $54.3 billion across programs ranging from public education to health care.

San Mateo County, which is home to Facebook and YouTube, faced an unprecedented housing crisis before shelter-in-place orders took effect in mid-March.

According to county officials, YouTube donated $50,000 to San Mateo County’s Strong Fund, which is aimed at providing financial relief to residents and local businesses.

But Canepa said that’s not enough and expects companies like Google and Netflix, which have reported higher earnings during the pandemic, to contribute more.

Businesses that have suffered financially like Uber and Airbnb would be exempt.

“We don't want to penalize people for being successful, but these companies can do a lot more in this pandemic and they're profiting off this pandemic,” Canepa said.

— Shannon Lin (@Linshannonlin)

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