{"id":176922,"date":"2026-02-13T19:41:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:41:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176922\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:41:35","slug":"san-jose-puts-hotel-tax-measure-on-june-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/176922\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose puts hotel tax measure on June ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facing yet another major budget shortfall, San Jose leaders have greenlit a proposal to hike taxes on hotel stays as a means of boosting revenue for city services.<\/p>\n

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of\u00a0placing a measure<\/a>\u00a0to increase the city\u2019s hotel tax, also known as a transient occupancy tax, on the June 2 primary election ballot. The proposal would raise the tax, levied on hotel guests, from 10% to 12% \u2014 a level that still falls below most other major cities. City officials estimate the hike would raise an additional $10 million in tax revenue each year.<\/p>\n

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Officials said the proposed tax increase stems from a broader effort to find new sources of revenue and stabilize the city\u2019s budget, which has suffered\u00a0regular deficits<\/a>\u00a0in recent years. However, the proposal also faced pushback from business leaders, who warned the tax could make San Jose\u2019s hospitality sector less competitive, as well as from advocates for local arts and culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the core this conversation is about how we protect city services and close a deficit that threatens them,\u201d District 5 Councilmember Peter Ortiz said during the meeting. \u201cWe owe it to our residents to do everything we can to avoid layoffs and prevent cuts to the departments people rely on every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The estimated $10 million in additional revenue raised by the 2% tax increase would go to the city\u2019s general fund. That means it could be spent on a variety of city services \u2014 everything from public safety, to homeless encampment management, to\u00a0park maintenance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ballot measure will need a simple majority to pass. If voters approve it, it would then take effect Oct. 1. All ballot measures for the June primary must be filed with the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters by March 6.<\/p>\n

Some San Jose business leaders urged councilmembers to delay the ballot measure \u2014 potentially placing it on the November ballot instead \u2014 to give more time to consult with hotels and other businesses to understand how they might be affected by the higher tax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasing the tax without this clarity \u2014 and without meaningful industry input \u2014 risks placing San Jose\u2019s hotels and visitor-serving businesses at a competitive disadvantage relative to peer cities,\u201d San Jose Chamber of Commerce CEO Leah Toeniskoetter wrote in a letter to the city.<\/p>\n

The recent start of a\u00a0new budget cycle<\/a>\u00a0in San Jose has added even more urgency to the hotel tax discussion. As city leaders work out a budget for the coming fiscal year, beginning July 1, San Jose faces a projected deficit of up to $65 million. The shortfall has raised the possibility of significant\u00a0service cuts and employee layoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city is needing to identify a comprehensive approach to the\u00a0structural deficit challenges<\/a>\u00a0it\u2019s facing,\u201d Jean Cohen, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThis (hotel tax increase) is one of many tools that they need to consider to make sure that the city is able to stay open for business.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent years, San Jose has looked into a number of potential methods to boost cash flow, including changes to its sales tax, business tax and local fees. As part of Tuesday\u2019s vote, councilmembers also directed staff to provide an update on their review of the city\u2019s business tax in the coming months.<\/p>\n

District 10 Councilmember George Casey expressed concern about any measure that might introduce a heavier tax burden on local businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur structural deficit has to do with our jobs and housing imbalance,\u201d Casey said. \u201cThe wording used is \u2018additional revenue,\u2019 and we can\u2019t get additional revenue unless we raise taxes on folks \u2026 that\u2019s a top consideration when companies decide where to locate or where to leave from.\u201d<\/p>\n

A city commissioned poll gauging support for the hotel tax proposal among voters found 55% are likely to support the increase. The poll found 32% of respondents opposed the measure and another 12% remained undecided.<\/p>\n

San Jose officials have argued the 2% increase likely will not be enough to significantly harm the city\u2019s hotel business. They noted even at 12%, the city\u2019s hotel tax would still remain well below levels imposed in other major cities, including nearby competitors for tourism dollars. For example, San Francisco and Oakland have set their hotel taxes at 14%, according to the memo.<\/p>\n

San Jose hotels also face a number of fees that substantially increase their effective tax rate, the memo notes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, local arts advocates flooded the city with letters urging councilmembers to direct a share of the new revenue to the city\u2019s arts programs. A portion of San Jose\u2019s hotel tax already goes to support things such as cultural grants and public arts, but advocates have argued the long-neglected sector deserves a larger share.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt is essential. It creates healing, belonging and economic return,\u201d San Jose performing artist and advocate Jonathan Francisco Borca said during public comment. \u201cIf you move this measure forward, I ask that you pair with the clear commitment and investment to the arts and culture as revenue grows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Keith Menconi at\u00a0keith@sanjosespotlight.com\u00a0or @KeithMenconi on X.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Facing yet another major budget shortfall, San Jose leaders have greenlit a proposal to hike taxes on hotel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4480,2076,16476,82734,4731,45070,88,5500,90,89,881,198,1694],"class_list":["post-176922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-ballot-measure","tag-budget","tag-budget-deficit","tag-hotel-tax","tag-hotels","tag-primary-election","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-city-council","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-spotlight","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}