San Francisco’s top business leaders could see their taxes increase under two potential 2026 ballot measures, one proposed by progressive supervisors and the other by a group of left-leaning organizations working with the city’s most powerful labor unions.
The coalition Stand up for SF – a group of six local labor unions and four progressive organizations – is set to begin collecting signatures in the coming weeks to place the “Overpaid CEO Act” on the June 2026 ballot.
But theirs isn’t the only tax-raising proposal next year: Supervisors in October placed their own tax measure for the November 2026 ballot to undo changes to the “overpaid executive tax” approved by voters last November with Proposition M, a business-tax overhaul touted as a necessity for San Francisco to weather difficult economic times.
Prop M reduced the tax, which primarily affects large companies, by around 80%. If it’s approved, the unions’ plan would boost the overpaid executive tax to rates higher than they were before.
The proposals reflect mounting pressure on San Francisco as the city’s local revenues fail to keep pace with rising costs, leading to projected budget shortfalls in the coming years. City leaders also are seeking new ways to generate revenue to shore up programs and services most affected by budget cuts imposed by congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump’s administration.
Unions argue that a decrease in federal funds will hurt the city’s public health system. More than half of patients in the system rely on Medicaid-funded programs, according to the unions.
The coalition’s proposal is meant to “protect local services” and reverse “devastating federal cuts” that threaten the city. Despite the similarities to the supervisors’ measure, the unions created their measure independently and have not coordinated, union officials told the Chronicle.
The increase could generate over $200 million a year for the city’s general fund, organizers said, which could go toward preserving critical local programs like mental health services, public hospitals and emergency response services, though the measure does not explicitly say where the money will go.
The group has until February to submit its measure, and it needs approximately 10,500 signatures to qualify, according to the city’s Department of Elections.
Meanwhile, progressive Supervisors Connie Chan, Shamann Walton, Jackie Fielder and Chyanne Chen signed onto their own proposal to increase taxes, which they worked on independently from the coalition of progressive organizations and unions.
Right now, the gross receipts of a CEO who makes 600 times more than their lowest-paid employee are taxed at a rate of about 0.129%. The supervisors’ proposal would bump that to 0.643% while the union’s proposal would bump it to 1.121%.
Fielder praised the measure in a statement.
“I fully support the measure as crucial city-funded programs were slashed or repurposed in this year’s austerity budget and as the wealth gap has only widened since the pandemic,” Fielder said.
The city’s massive wealth gap is why Britt Hewett, a registered nurse at San Francisco General Hospital, is supporting her union’s measure.
“The wealth disparity is mind-boggling on a daily basis,” Hewett said, adding that the tax will only affect a small group of the city’s wealthiest people.
This article originally published at San Francisco residents could vote twice in 2026 on hiking ‘overpaid CEO’ tax.