Trends,

High-End Restaurant Tax To Help Homeless?

The Scoop’s Paolo Lucchesi posed an interesting question this morning, which naturally confounded many SFGate readers — “Would you pay a tax at restaurants to help the homeless?” Lucchesi goes on to explain that Florida incorporated a one percent tax on high-end restaurant bills to help the homeless and victims of domestic violence twenty years ago, which has proven hugely successful. The number of homeless people in Miami has gone from 8,000 to about 800. This has inspired more cities and counties in Florida to consider following suit.

There’s already been much hemming and hawing over the 3-4 percent Healthy SF tax, which many restaurants now add to their bills, but considering, as Lucchesi notes, California restaurants generated $61.1 billion in sales, it seems that fine-diners likely have some extra cash to spare.

Would you pay a tax at restaurants to help the homeless? [Inside Scoop]

High-End Restaurant Tax To Help Homeless?