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The tax is back.
A proposed ballot measure to tax second homes is coming back to the San Diego City Council Rules Committee this Wednesday.
Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera and his team took a loss on the first version of their proposal a few weeks ago. The initial plan was to tax empty second homes AND vacation rentals. Airbnb fought hard against it, and Elo-Rivera couldn’t carry it through committee. His frequent ally, Councilmember Kent Lee, voted against him, as did Raul Campillo and Vivian Moreno.
The vacation rental part of the plan seemed to be giving a lot of people heartburn. But based on the last hearing, it seems likely a second-home-only tax could pass.
Both Moreno and Lee said at the time they would support a tax on second homes. Lee called the idea a “clear progressive tax.”
“If someone can afford a second home and not use it for any other purpose including long- or short-term rentals, they can afford to pay that tax and should,” he said.
So how much will it be?
For the first year, $8,000 per home. The next year it would be $10,000 per home. And there would be additional surcharges for corporate-owned empty homes, starting at $4,000 in 2027.
Elo-Rivera’s office says this has the potential to bring in as much as $51 million. But here’s the really big question: Will there be easy workarounds?
Not necessarily.
One way people might seek to avoid the tax is by registering their empty second home as a vacation rental, but that is a limited option — and it’s also not free.
Vacation rentals are capped at one percent of the city’s housing stock — and several thousand licenses have already been issued. As of Wednesday, there were only 964 available short-term rental licenses left, according to a city webpage.
There are more than 5,000 empty second homes, according to Elo-Rivera’s office. We previously created a map of them, which you can find here.
Rich folks may already be starting to play musical chairs for those 964 licenses.
But even if someone successfully tried that workaround, they would still have to add to the city’s coffers. Vacation rental homes pay an annual license fee of $1,129.
There will likely be other workarounds, as yet undiscovered. For a home to be exempt from the tax, someone must live in it 183 days per year. According to the new proposal, that person could be a family member of the owner.
“We are working closely with the city attorney and office of the city treasurer on enforcement and implementation of the proposal,” Molly Weber, Elo-Rivera’s chief of staff, wrote in a text message.
So much for going after corporations like you whinned about Elo. More punitive selective taxes for people providing long term for their families. Did the SD Dems become China?
I support a tax on second homes that go unused. Let’s be realistic for a second. Most second homes are owned by the well off. While we should not begrudge people their wealth, it is reasonable to expect unused property owners to incur taxes beyond usual property taxes. Why? Because unlike residents, these owners don’t live in San Diego and so they do not otherwise contribute to the city in terms of productive labor or capital investment. These are people parking their money and in some areas like La Jolla it’s very wealthy foreigners doing so. This should be discouraged. In a city with chronic shortage of affordable housing allowing the construction of luxury homes that sit empty benefits no one except the wealthy who want their money to sit in house form. It also leaves certain parts of San Diego almost empty. Anyone who walks around the most affluent parts of La Jolla waterfront for example will find many of those homes citing abandoned by their wealthy oligarch owners, the only sign of life being the garners and security people.
It doesn’t matter who they are and what they do. And you speculate as to who these owners are. Every owner pays a tax on their property. To say they don’t contribute is wrong. To selectively tax a property again is double taxation. And why is it governments right to tell an owner how to use a home besides the obvious. You seem to have an envious bone to pick with La Jolla. And think affordable housing will come from it. Even if this is somehow legal, and you’re picking on people with money, they would likely pay the tax, take the additional writeoff, and still leave the house empty. This is just another Elo move to take from the rich, and balance the budget, and not downsize the bloated middle management staff going on in city hall. He would rather roll the dice that the city wouldn’t be sued on this than cut staff.
They also don’t consume resources. No kids in public schools, no added use of public facilities, no cars on the road during rush hour. I bet the balance sheet shows a much contribution than you think.
2026!! Here are best 0pportunity for gets d0llars,. i collect in only one m0nth two th0usand plus d0llars ,Just 2 h0urs in day HERE.
TEB ON my name