Lawsuit challenges San Francisco's residential vacancy tax

San Franciscans took to the polls last November to approve Proposition M, a ballot measure that taxes property owners for rental units that go unoccupied for more than 182 days out of a year.

There is quite a bit of misinformation floating on this subject and what impact it will have. The Budget and Legislative Analyst estimates that there are 40,000 underutilized rental units that can be rented out, while the Controller's Office says this number is only around 4,000.

Whatever the fuzzy math, is it any of the City's business? This is a topic that struck a nerve on our social media.

We thank our industry partners for taking a stance and making cogent arguments against the constitutionality of the measure that can be found in the lawsuit here.