California Cities Seek Nontraditional Sources for Tax Revenue

California cities and counties are proposing initiatives to raise taxes on property transfers of million-dollar residences, establish a head tax that hits Alphabet Inc.’s Google employees, and increase hotel taxes.

Housing and other rising costs are in part fueling the quest for funding in an increasingly revenue-hungry region. Median home prices in five of the nine San Francisco Bay Area counties hit above $1 million in May, the California Association of Realtors said. Regional unemployment is less than 3 percent and hovers in some places around 2 percent, while governments struggle with increasing pension costs and initiative-mandated limits ...