SF Supervisors Propose Tax on Wealthy CEOs, Ride-Hailing Companies for 2026 Ballot

San Francisco supervisors are looking to increase taxes on the city’s wealthiest executives and ride-hailing companies through a November 2026 ballot measure.

Supervisor Connie Chan said the move was urgent after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff’s recent comments supporting President Donald Trump’s threats to send the National Guard to San Francisco, which triggered a media firestorm before Benioff walked back his remarks and proved instrumental in getting Trump to abandon his plans for an immigration enforcement surge in the Bay Area.

“They make billions in profit off of the backs of workers in San Francisco, then they can have a throwaway line and throw the entire city into turmoil. It’s time to make sure they pay their fair share,” Chan told KQED.

Chan’s proposal would ask city voters to reinstate the previous structure of the city’s Overpaid Executive Tax, which imposes a tax on businesses where the highest-paid executive earns more than 100 times the median compensation of San Francisco employees.. In November 2024, voters repealed parts of the executive tax through Proposition M, a comprehensive business tax reform measure. Chan’s proposal allows other changes made in Prop M to remain intact.

The plan would also raise taxes on ride-hailing companies, including Uber, Lyft and Waymo, similar to Proposition L on the November 2024 ballot. Although voters approved Prop L, the proposal did not take effect because Prop M included a provision that nullified the ride-share tax.

The ballot measure proposal needs only a 50% majority to pass, and could generate around $150-200 million annually. It has been submitted for a hearing before the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee; however, it automatically qualifies for the November 2026 ballot because four supervisors signed on — Chan, along with Supervisors Shamann Walton, Jackie Fielder and Chyanne Chen.

Chan, who represents the Richmond District, said the funding, which would not be earmarked for a specific purpose, is needed as the city weathers cuts from the federal government to healthcare, food benefits and the city’s public transportation system, which is facing a deficit of more than $300 million.

“Our city government is being put into an impossible position to step up to the plate, which is to say that this is the time and moment that billionaires need to pay their fair share,” Chan said. “We know that since January, they’ve gotten their way with the Trump administration through tax cuts.”

Other state and local officials have meanwhile put forward other ideas to solve the city’s funding gaps. Mayor Daniel Lurie is backing a parcel tax that would raise funding for local public transit. State Sens. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley) have put forward a regional sales tax for the November 2026 ballot to fund Bay Area transit agencies.

Lurie has not publicly commented on the recent progressive business tax measure.

Earlier this year, the mayor moved to allow Waymo’s autonomous vehicles to drive along the stretch of Market Street where cars are prohibited, stirring backlash from Uber and Lyft, as well as public transportation and bicycle advocates.

“This measure would hinder the city’s comeback by making rides more expensive and hurting drivers,” said CJ Macklin, director of communications at Lyft. “This would be particularly devastating for low-income communities who struggle to even access the Muni system and depend on ride-share to get around. It’s the wrong move for San Francisco.”

“This TNC tax hits people who most rely on our platform to move and work,” a spokesperson for Uber said in an email. “It is irresponsible and blatantly ignores the city’s affordability crisis, less than a year after voters overwhelmingly approved business tax reform [Prop M] to encourage our city’s recovery.”

Waymo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents downtown and Mission Bay, where many major companies and ride-share services are based, did not co-sign the paperwork for the proposal.

But he said he’s open to a tax on ride-hailing companies to fund public transportation, and supported Prop L in 2024.

“My big worry as the downtown supervisor when we ask for funding for our transit service and Muni, in particular, it needs to be a tax that’s fair, reasonable and sufficient to solve the problem,” Dorsey said. “I would like for everybody to get on the same page. Public transit is something that we can’t afford to lose.”