On the same night that Californians approved tax hikes on income, tobacco, and soda, voters in San Diego rejected two proposed hotel tax hikes – Measures C & D – which proposed a massive hotel tax increase to fund a new football stadium for the San Diego Chargers.
Measure C was rejected by 58% of voters, while 60% voted NO on Measure D. The rejection of these hotel tax hikes is even more impressive when considering that the rate increases were falsely advertised to voters as much lower than they really were.
Approval of Measure C would’ve imposed not a six percent tax increase, as it was described in the official ballot language, but a six percentage point increase, taking the rate from 10.5 to 16.5%. This is a distinction with a major difference. Instead of a 6% hike, Measure C represented a nearly 60% increase in San Diego’s hotel tax rate. Measure D was deceptively worded in a similar fashion on the official ballot language. San Diego voters were smart to reject such a massive increase in the city’s hotel tax bite.