The More, the Better: San Francisco Leads New Kind of Tax Revolt

San Francisco is emerging as one of the most receptive places in the country for new taxes.

In recent weeks:

• San Francisco leaders supported the proposed overhaul of the city’s gross receipts tax structure, which would be the fourth tax-raising proposal on the city’s November ballot.
• A San Francisco Superior Court judge upheld an initiative raising commercial lease taxes to fund early childhood education and upheld a Salesforce.com-backed initiative imposing gross receipts taxes on companies earning more than $50 million to support homeless services.
• A pair of recent court rulings upheld locally passed tax initiatives—including one backing the city’s authority ...