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San Francisco's tech billionaires are fighting over how to deal with the city's homelessness crisis - Here's what each tech bigwig says about Tuesday's vote on Prop C

Nov 6, 2018, 03:05 IST

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce speaks at the Wall Street Journal Digital Live ( WSJDLive ) conference at the Montage hotel in Laguna Beach, California October 20, 2015.REUTERS/Mike Blake

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On Tuesday, San Franciscans will vote on the controversial Proposition C ballot measure, which would tax the city's largest corporations to provide more funding to fight homelessness.

Heated debates between tech executives have been the center of the Prop C story, with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff leading the charge in favor of the tax. Notable Twitter battles include the slick-haired cloud exec taking on Square CEO Jack Dorsey and Zynga co-founder, Marc Pincus.

Both Dorsey and Pincus have said they want to help fight homelessness in San Francisco, but don't believe Prop C is the answer.

Many other tech executives and entrepreneurs across Silicon Valley have made their stances public on Prop C as well.

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Here's a list of those for and against the corporate tax to help fight homelessness in San Francisco:

These are the execs and companies that support voting Yes on Prop C

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce

"Our city is in a crisis. A crisis of cleanliness, a crisis of inequity and inaction ... and we can’t just sit by anymore," Benioff — who has donated a combined $7.9 million between Salesforce and himself — told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems

"Completely with you @Benioff - look forward to connecting our efforts from SJ to SF to Oakland!" said Robbins, whose company's headquarters is in San Jose.

Will.i.am, entrepreneur

Will.i.am has not provided a public statement but is listed as an endorser. The former Black Eyed Peas frontman said at the 2016 Salesforce Dreamforce conference: "I'm here because I think geeks could change inner cities forever."

These are the execs and companies that support voting No on Prop C

San Francisco Mayor, London Breed, has voiced her opposition to Prop C.

Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square

"I admit that while I come at this as a citizen first, there’s an unfairness I see in my role of CEO of Square (this does not apply to Twitter). Companies like Square and Stripe would be taxed at a significantly larger total contribution than much larger companies like Salesforce... We’re happy to pay our taxes. We just want to be treated fairly with respect to our peer companies, many of whom are 2-10x larger than us," Dorsey said in a tweet thread on Prop C back in October.

Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe

"We often criticize political leaders for lacking courage. Let's applaud them when they take nuanced stances that won't be uniformly popular: kudos to @LondonBreed, @Scott_Wiener, and @DavidChiu. Prop C is poor policy," Collison said in a tweet.

Stripe also released an official letter on its opposition to Prop C.

Mark Pincus, chairman and co-founder of Zynga

"Prop c is the dumbest, least thought out prop ever. Please get the facts and vote no. Then lets all focus on real solutions for sf," Pincus said in a tweet.

Paul Graham, Y Combinator co-founder

Graham, whose title on the Y Combinator website reads "Founder, Retired," simply retweeted Patrick Collison's tweet linking to Stripe's stance on Prop C. According to SF County records, he's donated $150,500 to oppose the proposition.

Lyft

Lyft CEO Logan Green has not personally donated to "No on Prop C" efforts, but as a company Lyft has given $100,000.

Michael Moritz, Managing Partner at Sequoia

Moritz also has not spoken out publicly, but public records show he's donated $100,000 to the opposition.

Charles Schwab, founder of Charles Schwab Corp.

Perhaps not a "tech" executive, it is noteworthy that Charles Schwab personally donated $100,000 for "No on Prop C" efforts.

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