San Francisco parking and transportation news

City treasurer José Cisneros is taking welcome steps to collect the parking tax from office buildings. For over 30 years, office buildings have avoided paying this tax on the ground that parking is included in the rent for the office space. The tax is supposed to be 25% of the parking charge but the owners have not itemized this charge. We are hopeful that the treasurer will be able to base the tax on monthly parking fees in the same or nearby buildings. This should bring in about $4 million a year to help cover Muni operating expenses plus about $1 million for senior services.

The Taxi Commission has set a maximum CO₂ emission rate for each taxi fleet in the city: 388 grams per mile. This is essentially equivalent to about 30 miles per gallon, which a Prius hybrid can achieve in San Francisco traffic and hills

The Sierra Club San Francisco Group also supports a legislative proposal by Supervisor Ross Mirkirimi to require every city business with 10 or more employees to provide pre-tax commuter benefits such as such Muni Fast Pass or partial payment for BART. Many employers have been unaware that they can get a tax deduction for providing these benefits, and there is no tax cost to the employee. A similar plan in Southern California, where employers were required to give employees cash instead of free parking, reduced driving by as much as 20%.

Howard Strassner