As the Board's Budget and Finance committee gets set to review the Twitter Tax Break (neé "Payroll Expense Tax Exclusion in Central Market Street and Tenderloin Area") this Wednesday, rumblings are afoot. A tax exemption that would have repulsed last year's progressive sect could pass with this most recent crop of left-of-center supervisors. As the Chronicle points out today, previously progressive President Chiu and D6's replacement Jane Kim have been instrumental in supporting the tax break, which probably would have been deemed "welfare for the wealthy" a year ago.
However, politicians' ire (former or otherwise) might not hold nearly as much weight as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). At least not in this instance. KCBS notes: "the city’s biggest public employee union, the SEIU, said the city can’t afford to offer Twitter such a tax break when jobs and basic services are being cut."
This right here, if anything, could ruin the deal. The SEIU officially opposing it could ruin Twitter's dreams of tax relief. How so? Well, their opposition will not only mean public opinion could be swayed (they buy loads of ads, do tons of lobbying), but if it gets on the November ballot, they could kill it.
