Hey Sasha - Yep, have to agree that SF is likely looking to pick every bit of tax revenue that it can find. I've worked closely with City government in my previous life. Here are some thoughts:
1. Shoot an email back. Copy your councilmember/supervisor's top staffer to make sure that the City department plays by the rules (you're an engine of economic development, so you've got some power!!) Plus, that supervisor's top staffer is a great gatekeeper and a good person to trumpet your/your members' accomplishments to. 2. Explain that while you've got some businesses that could potentially be registered, you've also got plenty of consultants, telecommuters etc that don't necessarily have to report to Treasurer and Tax Collector. 3. Work with them to some point. Ask what kind of incentives, tax breaks, etc they can give. We've got a City person coming into our space tomorrow to talk about Enterprise Zone eligibility and tax credits - a big boon for some of our folks that might qualify. We've got parking incentives, had help with some policing issues, asked and received a bike rack outside our doors...you never know. Perhaps there are similar incentives or resources for your people? The bottom line is that not all of your members may end up having to pay taxes and it's unpleasant to be in a shake down, but business taxes are kind of a necessary expense and evil if we want to keep cities running. There's always a human behind the letter and they might have resources or connections that could be useful to you - or to your members. Good luck! Best, Gretchen NextSpace Coworking + Innovation San Jose On Aug 21, 11:30 am, Sasha V <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > Yesterday, we received a letter from the City of San Francisco > demanding that we release the names of all our San Francisco members > to "insure that all commercial tenants in the facility are registered > with the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector". > > 1. Have you received this letter from SF or a similar letter from your > city government? > 2. How have you handled it? > 3. If you haven't, what's your instinct on this? > > Ours tells us that our clients are not commercial tenants, but members > of a private club and thus we're under no obligation to disclose any > information about them in this KGB-like shakedown. > > It'd be great to hear from the group. > > Thanks! > Sasha Vasilyuk > Sandbox Suites -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
