Help Ron Conway Abolish Stock Option Taxes in SF
Dislaimer. Ron Conway has invested in my company. I'm using a throwaway HN account because we have not announced our investors.
Here's an excerpt from the email he sent to his portfolio companies: "As you know, we are facing an uphill battle at City Hall in San Francisco, and need your help!! Right now, San Francisco is the only major city in the United States that taxes stock options, and there are two competing bills at City Hall to address the issue. One (sponsored by Supervisor Mark Farrell) would permanently stop this tax - private companies will not pay anything going forward, and existing public companies would be capped at their current levels. Another (sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi) would only create a 6-year trial period, where public companies will still be subject to the tax, and private companies will still have to pay up to $750,000 a year once they go public.
We need to support Supervisor Mark Farrell's legislation --- this is VERY important to the technology community in San Francisco."
If you'd like to help: 1. Email the letter below to Board.of.Supervisors@sfgov.org; mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org & BCC sfstartups@votizen.com (Votizens is keeping a tally of supporters). 2. If you're not a voter or live outside of the city, you can tweet your support with the #sfstartups hashtag.
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Dear Mayor Lee and Supervisors,
We are excited that City Hall is focusing on creating a solution to the stock options issue as a member of the technology community in San Francisco, I strongly urge you to support Supervisor Mark Farrell's stock option legislation!
We support Supervisor Farrell's proposal for a number of reasons:
1. City Hall has to create a permanent solution to the problem, or tech companies (and the jobs they create) will continue to evaluate leaving San Francisco. A temporary solution sends the message that San Francisco is not interested in creating long-term solutions for the local economy. I assume that after 6 years San Francisco won't start taxing stock options again, so why not create a permanent solution?
2. Private and public companies should both be treated equally - it is the only common-sense solution. Supervisor Farrell's legislation ensures that both private and public companies benefit - not only are private companies thinking about leaving San Francisco, but larger, public companies (which employ thousands of San Franciscans) are growing their employees outside of San Francisco. I want these jobs to stay in San Francisco – and Supervisor Farrell’s legislation will do just that.
3. Supervisor Farrell's legislation Insures that San Francisco's general fund will not face any additional budget deficit. City Hall won't collect more taxes on stock options, but his legislation is designed so that current levels of tax revenue from stock options will stay constant.
Supervisor Farrell's legislation strikes the right balance in creating incentives to keep tech companies in San Francisco, while protecting the City from adverse budget impacts. Our local economy is at stake - please focus on the long-term, and support Supervisor Farrell's legislation!!
Sincerely, [Insert name] [Insert company] [Insert company address]