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San Francisco Shop Owners Threaten To Stop Paying Taxes Unless City Tackles Crime, Homelessness
Nation and State ^ | 08/27/2022 | Tyler Durden

Posted on 08/27/2022 9:02:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Business owners in San Francisco's Castro district have absolutely had it with the city's inaction over burglaries, vandalism, and violent homeless people camping on the sidewalks in front of storefronts and residences.

As the American Thinker's Olivia Murray notes:

San Francisco has an established reputation as a capital for fringe culture and leftism, much of which converges in the enclave of Castro. The first "Drag Queen Story Hour" event ever took place in the Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library in the neighborhood and was "well received."

Now, under Democrat leadership, the iconically left community is ready to take drastic measures toward radical American patriotism. Three days ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reported:

For years, business owners in San Francisco's Castro district have complained to city officials that homeless people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction have wreaked havoc on the neighborhood. Now, merchants say the situation has gotten so bad that they're threatening to possibly stop paying city taxes and fees [emphasis added].

The threat arises from a letter drafted and sent to city officials by the Castro Merchants Association on August 8. According to co-president Dave Karraker, if the calls are neglected, the response will be civil disobedience, including refusal to pay taxes.

Karraker said:

If the city can't provide the basic services for them [businesses] to become a successful business, then what are we paying for? You can't have a vibrant, successful business corridor when you have people passed out high on drugs, littering your sidewalk.

No, no, you can't, which is why conservatives suggest not incentivizing criminality and drug use, nor electing D.A.s who hail from domestic terrorists and despise law and order like Chesa Boudin.

Needless to say, it's likely the irony is lost upon the residents and proprietors of Castro. The very spirit they oppose in policy — revolutionary freedom from the yoke of taxation and anti-tyrannical government — is the very spirit they're on the verge of embracing.

The leftists in Castro appear to be halfway there. The government exists for one purpose, and that is to secure unalienable rights. One of those rights is property ownership, and between 2019 and 2020, storeowners saw a distinct rise in "burglaries and vandalism", and in Castro, "the merchants association recorded more than 90 incidents totaling over $170,000 in repair costs since 2020[.]" When the government fails to safeguard our rights, it forfeits its legitimacy and authority to govern.

After more than two years in which problems of vagrancy, vandalism, and petty crime have gotten only worse, Castro merchants say they're going to withhold taxes from the City of San Francisco if it doesn't address their concerns. https://t.co/11CrMjxIP5 — SFist (@SFist) August 25, 2022

Karraker added, "Until we see demonstrable change, everything is on the table, including civil disobedience[.]" I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually have something in common with the San Francisco Marxists, and I applaud their initiative.

And as Silvio Canto Jr. writes in the Thinker:

I spoke with a friend who went to San Francisco, and he couldn't believe the general decay of a once wonderful city. He did not like Los Angeles, either.

So it's great to see that business owners are drawing the line. Put the issue in the laps of the elected officials, and use your taxes as a weapon. After all, you are paying for the police, and it's the political class tying their hands.

Thumbs up for these business owners in Castro.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; crime; gavinnewsom; homelessness; sanfrancisco; taxes
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1 posted on 08/27/2022 9:02:06 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Working people are not allowed to protest. So the rest of those owners will fall in line after one of them gets raided, and their property is seized.


2 posted on 08/27/2022 9:07:47 PM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“When the government fails to safeguard our rights, it forfeits its legitimacy and authority to govern.”

We currently have a federal government that is determined to destroy our country and way of life.


3 posted on 08/27/2022 9:09:16 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Inside every leftist is a blood-thirsty fascist yearning to be free of current societal constraints.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Lol, until the men with guns show up to confiscate property due to non-payment of taxes.

I hope these people have good lawyers.
4 posted on 08/27/2022 9:10:51 PM PDT by farming pharmer (fork you :(){ :|:& };:)
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To: Leaning Right

the best thing the shop could do is turn to a life of crime themselves- that way they will be a-ok with the liberals in power there-


5 posted on 08/27/2022 9:14:15 PM PDT by Bob434 (question)
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To: SeekAndFind

We should ALL stop paying taxes until the gov’t starts acting rationally and for the benefit of “the people” and not demanding WE support their corruption. And who is the WEF to decide our fate?


6 posted on 08/27/2022 9:16:40 PM PDT by Singermom
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To: Leaning Right
Working people are not allowed to protest. So the rest of those owners will fall in line after one of them gets raided, and their property is seized.

That’s exactly what would happen. I can’t say what I really think.

7 posted on 08/27/2022 9:24:43 PM PDT by Mark17 (Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of USAF pilot. USAF aviation runs in the family )
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To: Blood of Tyrants
We currently have a federal government that is determined to destroy our country and way of life.

They are indeed. I just wonder if they ever thought they would be this successful, at this point?

8 posted on 08/27/2022 9:29:08 PM PDT by Mark17 (Retired USAF air traffic controller. Father of USAF pilot. USAF aviation runs in the family )
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To: SeekAndFind

Open an escrow account. Show that you are paying the taxes just putting the money in a escrow account.


9 posted on 08/27/2022 9:59:35 PM PDT by kvanbrunt2
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To: SeekAndFind

The Dims in Kal will be forced to make losses by theft under $1000 tax deductible.

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!


10 posted on 08/27/2022 10:10:49 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals)
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To: kvanbrunt2

Excellent jdea. And on!y if large numbers agree to the general principles of a tax revolt can this be successful. And once it starts somewhere and makes enough noise it will spread like the proverbial wildfire


11 posted on 08/27/2022 10:13:40 PM PDT by supremedoctrine
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To: SeekAndFind

I applaud them...


12 posted on 08/27/2022 11:44:29 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me https://youtu.be/wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: kvanbrunt2

I thought about that then I thought about they should just hire mercs to take out the city government and all the trash on the streets.


13 posted on 08/28/2022 3:30:41 AM PDT by HYPOCRACY (This is the dystopian future we've been waiting for!)
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To: Vendome; MinuteGal; M Kehoe

I have a better idea, although it would require much agreement among shopkeepers and businesses in the area. All should declare a strike, close down all their businesses and services, and state they will not re-open until their grievances are addressed in legal writing and by instant reaction of gov’t.

That reaction is rounding up all the homeless/drug addicted/mentally ill human debris littering their walks and storefronts, and humanely housing them elsewhere (bring back the homeless/insane asylum institutions where they can get help). And the gov’t continually making sweeps to maintain adherence to this policy of keeping the city streets and businesses safe from harassment of those businesses and their customers.

Force the gov’ts hand. Shut down everything in the District. Wholesale strike. In unity there is strength. Then lets see what their liberal gov’t officials do.

I think that is what our border control services (ICE) should do also. Leave the border wide open. Go on strike. Let the illegal aliens; drug smugglers; human traffickers all enter the U.S. unimpeded by anyone, and then lets see what the Biden regime and Congress do about it. Even the liberal MSM would have to cover the totally out of control border.

The question then becomes what the Biden regime would have to do to prevent total chaos and deal with the enormous anger of our citizens, all of whom would have to wake up about their “it’s not on my doorstep” attitudes. It would be on everyone’s doorstep in spades.

Only mass civic rebellion forced on our gov’t by its citizens will work here. Apathy will end our Republic. And if the Biden regime would try to send out the troops, what could they really do. Try to force businesses to re-open? Man the southern border with these troops?

Good, but if these troops on the President’s order continue to facilitate illegals entering into our country, then our gov’t leaders should be indicted as the rogue/corrupt regime that it is and removed from office, even if a coup is necessary. No more Mister Nice Guys here. Otherwise the next step will be civil war that may be coming anyway.


14 posted on 08/28/2022 3:45:40 AM PDT by flaglady47 (Trump in 2024 - MAGA Man and Swamp Destroyer)
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To: flaglady47; Vendome; MinuteGal; M Kehoe

Kudos to everything you said. However, I was in perfect agree agreement until you go to the last line:

“...Otherwise the next step will be civil war that may be coming anyway.”

I am firmly convinced we’re already there - been at it for sometime. And I think the only reason we seemed to be losing is that most folks don’t see it.


15 posted on 08/28/2022 4:58:31 AM PDT by jimjohn (We're at war, people. Start acting like it.)
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To: jimjohn; MinuteGal; M Kehoe

“I am firmly convinced we’re already there - been at it for sometime. And I think the only reason we seemed to be losing is that most folks don’t see it.”

I meant, what I believed would be understood, a “physical” civil war, not verbal. I totally agree we are in the midst of a verbal civil war right now. Although there indeed have been some preliminary skirmishes (riots) that could very well be the precursor of an actual war of more than just words.


16 posted on 08/28/2022 5:18:06 AM PDT by flaglady47 (Trump in 2024 - MAGA Man and Swamp Destroyer)
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Oh no…anything but stopping taxes…c’mon man…


17 posted on 08/28/2022 5:51:20 AM PDT by TnTnTn
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To: Singermom

Lack of tax money won’t stop guberment. They already spend trillions more than they take in.
It will just give them an excuse to close down more Middle Class people.


18 posted on 08/28/2022 5:59:56 AM PDT by oldasrocks
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To: SeekAndFind

Do it, and watch the city take your business.


19 posted on 08/28/2022 6:01:21 AM PDT by kosciusko51
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To: SeekAndFind

Repent your sins to Christ and quit voting Democrat.


20 posted on 08/28/2022 6:35:09 AM PDT by DownInFlames (P)
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