San Francisco Payroll Tax: Why Repeal Matters For Startups

Does This Tax Drive Businesses From San Francisco?

Not only is the San Francisco Chronicle lacking the professional courtesy to link to TechCrunch for first reporting the tech industry's fears about San Francisco taxing stock options-- the paper is also missing the broader point in the escalating debate.

This isn't about Zynga and Twitter negotiating a special deal, nor is it about a two-year deferral of payroll tax. Sure, that could keep a few companies and thousands of jobs in the city. But what would really cripple the city's future economic growth is if every other startup reading this news, grimaces at the idea of haggling with unsympathetic elected officials who don't seem to want their jobs, and decide instead to follow Mark Zuckerberg's lead and open their company in Palo Alto or another Bay Area city from day one.

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