Letter: We are NO on the Vacancy Tax

We formed our coalition, Keep Community First, to address a series of anti-business, anti-community tax increase proposals being discussed by the South Lake Tahoe City Council, propelled in large part by one Council member - Scott Robbins.

To date, we have successfully turned aside two of those proposals - a two percent increase in the City’s Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) and a $23 minimum wage standard. We are now focused and firmly opposed to Measure N on the City’s November ballot which would tax the owners of homes within the City if they are “vacant” more than 183 days a year.

Last fall, the council discussed this idea as a City-sponsored proposal. However, citing a variety of concerns, including the potential for litigation, the majority decided not to pursue a vacancy tax. Council member Robbins was vocally unhappy with this decision and, in response, launched a citizen’s initiative campaign to qualify the tax plan for the November ballot. This effort was successful, with the majority of signatures coming from registered City voters who were told this tax was a way to help solve the affordable housing problem in the City. Not only was this claim misleading, most of those who signed the petition are not among those who would have to pay the tax, if approved by a simple majority of voters (50 percent plus 1). Most of those forced to pay the tax are unable to vote against the measure as they are registered to vote in the jurisdiction where their primary residence is located.

Housing affordability is a major challenge in South Lake Tahoe, as it is elsewhere in the Tahoe region, the State of California, and beyond. However, Measure N DOES NOT guarantee a single new affordable housing opportunity, nor a single penny for housing programs. The measure does identify housing as an allowed use of the estimated $34 million in new tax revenues, along with transit, transportation infrastructure, the cost of setting up and administering the program, and the cost of legally defending the measure in court. Litigation costs are likely to be incurred before the tax can be collected, so the City’s General Fund would likely have to be tapped to cover those expenses, or perhaps existing City expenditures redirected to the litigation fund.

City officials have estimated that it would require 12 to 15 additional employees to contact owners of the more than 16,000 residential properties in the city in an effort to determine which are vacant more than 183 days per year and enforce what would clearly be a complex and time-consuming program. Everyone who owns a home in South Lake Tahoe would have to complete and submit a “Declaration of Occupancy,” under penalty of perjury, with financial penalties for failure to provide the information in a timely manner. The measure is littered with a variety of non-compliance fines and late fees, along with an automatic increase in the $6,000 annual tax based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), beginning in 2027.

It defies logic to think that taxing homeowners who don’t occupy their homes more than half the year would be an “incentive” for them to rent their homes for part of the year to increase the availability of rental properties. Yet, that is the type of inverse logic woven throughout this divisive, unfair, and unaccountable “Vacancy Tax.”

Proponents have accused us of bringing no housing solutions to the table. This is factually inaccurate. Individually and collectively we have been active advocates for numerous affordable housing projects and programs, as well as City and TRPA Code changes intended to reduce regulatory barriers to the development of affordable housing. For an inventory of these, please visit our campaign website at StopTheSouthTahoeVacancyTax.com.

No on Measure N Committee Leaders
Steve Teshara, Tahoe Chamber & South Tahoe Restaurant Association
Jerry Bindel, South Lake Tahoe Lodging Association
Duane Wallace, South Tahoe Chamber of Commerce
Sharon Kerrigan, South Tahoe Association of Realtors