Stop the South Tahoe Vacancy Tax group to hold second town hall meeting

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Another divisive community issue, a proposed vacancy tax on second homeowners, is drawing a large opposition campaign. Over 120 residents, business owners, lodging community, chambers, second homeowners, realtors, and many others filled the first Stop The Vacancy Tax town hall meeting.

Now a second meeting is planned to both educate and organize local opposition to the tax proposal on the November ballot which is now titled Measure N. This town hall meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 17, from 6 p.m. to approximately 8 p.m. at 2307 James Avenue in South Lake Tahoe, the office of the South Tahoe Association of REALTORS®.

“We continue our work to educate people about this unfair, misguided tax grab that in reality provides no real solutions to the challenge of affordable housing in our community,” said Steve Teshara of Tahoe Chamber, a campaign co-chair. “What it would do is create an expensive, complex administrative and enforcement burden on the City of South Lake Tahoe, which is why the majority of city council members opposed going in this direction.”

“We are fundraising to support the campaign and adding to our list of people concerned about this invasion of their privacy and interference with property rights,” added campaign co-chair Sharon Kerrigan of the South Tahoe Association of REALTORS®. “As written, Measure N would impact all residential property owners within the City. Those who rent would also be asked to provide proof of their residency to determine if the owner of their rental would or would not be subject to the tax.”

The town hall will feature timely updates from campaign leaders and a question-and-answer session about the multi-faceted efforts to defeat the measure in this November’s General Election. Those interested in volunteering to support the campaign in one or more ways can sign up to do so.

The program will be available via live stream and available for subsequent playback to ensure they can reach the maximum number of people who share the group's concerns, remembering that all residential property owners will be impacted, not just those who own second homes. Measure N will require every owner to complete a Declaration of Occupancy under penalty of perjury. Landlords must monitor their tenants for compliance and everyone must keep records for five years in case there is an audit.

For more information, visit the campaign website at StopTheSouthTahoeVacancyTax.com.

created to do just that, stopping the passage of the tax in November.

While most people would say they are for affordable housing, public transit, and better roads,