San Francisco Vacancy Tax is Legal, California Judges Told

The city and county of San Francisco asked a California appeals court to restore a tax on landlords for vacant units because it’s not an unconstitutional taking.

The empty homes tax doesn’t coerce property owners into renting their empty units to third parties to avoid the tax—they also have the option of converting units for other uses such as a private art studio or personal gym, the governments’ opening brief said. Thus, the tax isn’t a taking because landlords have other options instead of renting out to their units to others, the brief obtained Tuesday said.

“Here, the empty homes ...