Proposed corporate tax hike in California would aid homeless

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A California coalition is proposing legislation to boost taxes on wealthy multinational corporations to raise more than $2 billion a year to house tens of thousands of homeless people, addressing what has become a worsening problem in the country's most populous state.

Supporters say Assembly Bill 71 would reinvent California's approach to solving homelessness — providing for the first time an ongoing, sufficient state funding source to get people off the streets. Opponents say it would contribute to the perception that California is hostile to business.

“Our state is facing an unprecedented homelessness crisis that's on the verge of becoming a full-blown catastrophe due to the economic impacts of COVID-19,” Democratic Assemblywoman Luz Rivas of Los Angeles said Wednesday, noting that one in four Americans experiencing homelessness lives in California.

The state suffers from prohibitively high housing costs and wages that can't keep up, resulting in an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the difficulty of staying home for people who have no home. Officials moved some people experiencing homelessness into reduced-capacity shelters, hotel rooms or socially distanced tents, although many still sleep outdoors.

The bill's chances are unknown, although Democrats, who are more likely to approve taxes on corporations, control both chambers of the Legislature.

At the same time, Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected higher taxes on the wealthy when he released his budget plan last week, saying that those taxes are “not part of the conversation.” That's despite the Democratic governor dedicating his State of the State address last year to homelessness and using the pandemic to secure thousands of hotel rooms that he hopes will lead to additional housing for an...