Discussion around San Francisco's Proposition C (e.g., nitter.vloup.ch/Scott_Wiener/sta…) made me wonder if SF's Gross Receipts Tax is as bad as it sounds. Knowing about the real estate transfer tax, which uses progressive rates based on the entire value (not margin), I expected the worst.
Senator Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener
5 Oct 2018
Today I’m joining Mayor @LondonBreed & Assemblymember @DavidChiu in announcing our opposition to Prop C. We must invest in homeless services & housing, but Prop C - the largest tax increase in San Francisco history - is the wrong approach. My statement: medium.com/@Scott_Wiener/sen…
1
Since it taxes receipts rather than profits, I was worried it might be structured in a way that made it impossible for low-margin businesses that serve customers outside the city (e.g., not finance or tech or services for locals) to be viable in San Francisco.
1
But I ended up being pleasantly surprised when I dug into it. The law is in library.amlegal.com/nxt/gate…, and the gist is that it works a lot like a sales tax; it taxes (see section 956.1) services performed in the city or goods shipped to the city.

Oct 7, 2018 · 1:37 AM UTC

1
It differs from a sales tax by: * having different rates for different industries (weird!) * applying to things like rent that a sales tax doesn't * having graduated rates (does that make sense for businesses?) * being imposed on the business (not part of the price) * maybe more?
1
But at least it doesn't tax businesses in San Francisco on goods they ship to outside the city or services they provide to those outside the city.