Even the City’s Own Report Says Vacancy Taxes Don’t Lower Rents

Measure A is being sold to San Diego voters as a housing solution.

City Hall politicians want you to believe that if they create a new $10,000 tax on homes, housing will somehow become more affordable.

But there is a major problem with that claim.

The City’s own report says vacancy taxes have not been shown to lower rents.

Read What the City’s Own Budget Analyst Found

The City of San Diego’s Independent Budget Analyst reviewed vacancy taxes in other cities as part of its analysis of Measure A.

One of the most important examples was Vancouver, Canada, one of the best-known cities to adopt an empty homes tax.

What did the City’s own report say?

It said a 2024 study found Vancouver’s tax did not affect new housing construction or average rents.

That should be a huge warning sign for San Diego voters.

A Tax Is Not a Housing Plan

San Diego needs more housing. That is not in dispute.

Families are being priced out. Renters are stretched thin. Working people are struggling to stay in the communities where they work, raise families, and build their lives.

But Measure A does not build housing.

It does not guarantee lower rents.

It does not guarantee a single new affordable home.

It creates a new tax bureaucracy and sends the money into the City’s General Fund.

That is not a housing plan.

That is a revenue plan.

Measure A Could Make Housing More Expensive

Measure A would impose a tax of $8,000 in 2027 and $10,000 in later years, with even higher amounts for certain corporate-owned properties.

Supporters act like those costs will simply disappear.

They will not.

When government raises the cost of owning or operating housing, those costs can ripple through the housing market. They can affect owners, landlords, renters, buyers, and families trying to stay in San Diego.

That is why Measure A is such a bad answer to a real problem.

It takes a housing affordability crisis and responds with a new tax on housing.

The City Wants Revenue — Not Accountability

The City’s own analysis makes clear that one of Measure A's primary goals - and we think really their only goal - is to increase General Fund revenue.

That matters.

If Measure A were really about lowering rents, the City should be able to show voters clear evidence that vacancy taxes lower rents.

But the City’s own report does not show that.

Instead, it shows a real-world example where the tax did not lower average rents.

San Diego Should Not Repeat Other Cities’ Mistakes

Other cities have already tried vacancy taxes.

They have created new bureaucracy. They have forced people to file extensive paperwork just to prove you lived in your own home. They have triggered audits, errors, confusion, and enforcement problems.

And according to the City’s own report, the best-known example did not lower average rents.

San Diego voters should not be asked to approve a flawed tax just because it has a popular-sounding name.

The goal may sound good.

The results do not.

Measure A won’t solve San Diego’s housing crisis.

Vote No on Measure A.

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