Muni Parcel Tax Measure

The Mayor's office has proposed a necessary parcel tax to save Muni from financial collapse. (SF Chronicle)

These slides present an augmented rate structure which builds on the merits of the package proposed in the November local measure roundtable.

Muni faces a >$300M deficit starting in FY 26-27

From SFMTA Board of Directors Meeting | November 18, 2025

City Package 2 Rates

Package 2 proposed at the November local measure roundtable.

Use Code Area (sqft) Charge
Residential
SRES, MRES		 0 – 3,000 $99
3,000+ $0.29/sqft (cap: $250k)
Non-residential
Office, Retail, Hotel, Misc, Industry		 0 – 3,000 $600
3,000+ $0.73/sqft (cap: $400k)

SF Chronicle

City Package Rate Structure

  1. Not enough revenue (~$169m) to raise or restore service
  2. Concern about high charges to small businesses
  3. Cost to tenants is often larger than single-family homes
  4. No exemptions or inflation adjustment

Muni Forever Structure

  1. Maintains much of the roundtable structure
  2. Revenue around ~$262m (pre-contingencies) with exemptions
  3. Exempts homeowners on SSI/SSDI
  4. Greatly alleviates small business contribution
  5. Decreases passthroughs to non-rent stabilized tenants
  6. No per-parcel cap

Muni Forever Structure

Use Code Area (sqft) Charge
Single-family (SRES) 0 – 3,000 $99
3,000 – 5,000 $0.35/sqft
5,000+ $1.99/sqft
Multi-family (MRES) 0 – 3,000 $179
3,000+ $0.10/sqft
All non-residential
Office, Retail, Hotel, Misc, Industry		 0 – 6,000 $399
6,000 – 12,000 $0.29/sqft
12,000 – 48,000 $0.79/sqft
48,000 – 400,000 $1.19/sqft
400,000+ $3.99/sqft

Muni Forever — rates maintained from City Package 2

Use Code Area (sqft) Charge
Single-family (SRES) 0 – 3,000 $99
3,000 – 5,000 $0.35/sqft
5,000+ $1.99/sqft
Multi-family (MRES) 0 – 3,000 $179
3,000+ $0.10/sqft
All non-residential
Office, Retail, Hotel, Misc, Industry		 0 – 6,000 $399
6,000 – 12,000 $0.29/sqft
12,000 – 48,000 $0.79/sqft
48,000 – 400,000 $1.19/sqft
400,000+ $3.99/sqft

Muni Forever — reduced contributions from small businesses and tenants

Use Code Area (sqft) Charge
Single-family (SRES) 0 – 3,000 $99
3,000 – 5,000 $0.35/sqft
5,000+ $1.99/sqft
Multi-family (MRES) 0 – 3,000 $179
3,000+ $0.10/sqft (↓ from $0.29/sqft)
All non-residential
Office, Retail, Hotel, Misc, Industry		 0 – 6,000 $399 (↓ from $600)
6,000 – 12,000 $0.29/sqft (↓ from $0.73/sqft)
12,000 – 48,000 $0.79/sqft
48,000 – 400,000 $1.19/sqft
400,000+ $3.99/sqft

Muni Forever — increased contributions from large buildings

Use Code Area (sqft) Charge
Single-family (SRES) 0 – 3,000 $99
3,000 – 5,000 $0.35/sqft
5,000+ $1.99/sqft
Multi-family (MRES) 0 – 3,000 $179 (↑ from $99)
3,000+ $0.10/sqft
All non-residential
Office, Retail, Hotel, Misc, Industry		 0 – 6,000 $399
6,000 – 12,000 $0.29/sqft
12,000 – 48,000 $0.79/sqft (↑ from $0.73/sqft)
48,000 – 400,000 $1.19/sqft (↑ from $0.73/sqft)
400,000+ $3.99/sqft (↑ from $0.73/sqft)

Muni Forever Recap

Large Home (SRES)
2,500 sqft single-family
0-3,000 sqft: $99
Total: $99
Small Retail
4,000 sqft retail space
0-6,000 sqft: $399
Total: $399
Medium Retail
20,000 sqft retail space
0-6,000 sqft: $399
6,000-12,000 sqft (6,000 × $0.29): $1,740
12,000-48,000 sqft (8,000 × $0.79): $6,320
Total: $8,459
'Trophy' Office
1,000,000 sqft office building
0-6,000 sqft: $399
6,000-12,000 sqft (6,000 × $0.29): $1,740
12,000-48,000 sqft (36,000 × $0.79): $28,440
48,000-400,000 sqft (352,000 × $1.19): $418,880
400,000+ sqft (600,000 × $3.99): $2,394,000
Total: $2,843,459

Single-family homes (SRES)

Single-family home marginal tax examples

4,848 sqft home
3,000 sqft Flat rate $99
1,848 sqft $0.35/sqft $647
Total $746
10,351 sqft home
3,000 sqft Flat rate $99
2,000 sqft $0.35/sqft $700
5,351 sqft $1.99/sqft $10,648
Total $11,447

Multi-family Residential

Most buildings have per-unit costs higher than single-family home owners in the city proposal, often by 300%.

City Package 2
$151
per unit median
Muni Forever
$77
per unit median
Assuming the worst case scenario: non-rent stabilized property owners passthrough 100% to tenants.

Multi-family Residential Per-Unit Costs

Median per-unit cost by building size

City Package 2
Muni Forever

Units Above SFH Rate

Percentage of multi-family units in buildings paying more per-unit than the $99 single-family home rate

City Package 2
69%
of units
pay more per-unit than
single-family homeowners
Muni Forever
17%
of units
pay more per-unit than
single-family homeowners

Largest residential

Largest SRES
19,576 sqft single-family
0-3,000 sqft: $99
3,000-5,000 sqft (2,000 × $0.35): $700
5,000+ sqft (14,576 × $1.99): $29,006
Total: $29,805
Largest MRES
674,317 sqft multi-family
0-3,000 sqft: $179
3,000+ sqft (671,317 × $0.10): $67,132
Total: $67,311

Small Business Protection

Muni Forever expands flat rate band from 3,000 to 6,000 sqft for commercial parcels

Retail (COMR) - 3,930 parcels +855 parcels moved to flat rate
54.0%
21.8%
24.2% marginal
Industrial (IND) - 2,086 parcels +465 parcels moved to flat rate
35.6%
22.3%
42.1% marginal
Office (COMO) - 1,523 parcels +201 parcels moved to flat rate
33.7%
13.2%
53.1% marginal
Hotel (COMH) - 690 parcels +91 parcels moved to flat rate
13.8%
13.2%
73.0% marginal
Flat in City Package 2
Moved to flat in MNMF
Marginal in MNMF

Non-Residential Impact

Comparing Muni Forever to City Package 2

93.5%
15,130 parcels
save a total of
$24,297,664
compared to City Package 2
6.5%
1,056 parcels
pay a total of
$202,695,803
more compared to City Package 2

Revenue by Use Code

Total revenue: $262.6M

Example Fees Per Parcel

  • Large Home (SRES): 4,000 sqft: $449
  • Mansion (SRES): 12,150 sqft: $15,027.50
  • Java Beach Cafe (MRES): 1,890 sqft: $179
  • Ice Cream Bar, Cole Valley (MRES): 3,000 sqft: $179
  • Taqueria El Farolito (COMR): 2,700 sqft: $399
  • Black Hammer Brewing (IND): 5,200 sqft: $399
  • Seaside Inn Motel (COMH): 4,230 sqft: $399
  • Super Save Market (COMR): 6,958 sqft: $676.82
  • West Portal One Medical (COMR): 8,000 sqft: $979
  • Barebottle Brewing (IND): 18,833 sqft: $7,537.07
  • Stanyan Park Hotel (COMH): 21,875 sqft: $9,940.25
  • Avalon Ocean Ave (MRES): 160,983 sqft: $15,977.30

Example Fees Per Parcel

  • La Playa Safeway (COMR): 37,747 sqft: $22,479.13
  • East Star Building Supply (IND): 31,500 sqft: $17,544
  • AMC Kabuki (COMM): 63,000 sqft: $48,494
  • 855 Brannan (MRES): 674,317 sqft: $67,310.70
  • Anchorage Square Mall (COMR): 198,525 sqft: $209,703.75
  • City Center (Geary & Masonic) (COMR): 250,843 sqft: $271,962.17
  • OpenAI Office (COMO): 314,826 sqft: $348,101.94
  • Stonestown (COMR): 411,904 sqft: $496,955.96
  • Large datacenter (IND): 439,294 sqft: $606,241.06
  • Large Amazon warehouse (IND): 448,000 sqft: $640,979
  • Chase Center Garage (COMM): 469,726 sqft: $729,665.74
  • LinkedIn Office (COMO): 475,791 sqft: $751,865.09
  • Salesforce Tower (COMO): 1,420,430 sqft: $4,520,974.70