San Francisco recommends reparations of $5 million per person

Can St. Paul be far behind?

San Francisco’s official African American Reparations Advisory Committee issued a report last month detailing recommendations for local residents, victims of the City’s past discrimination.

The Committee’s 60-page draft plan contains 110 action items for implementation by the City/County Board of Supervisors. The first item has gathered the most attention, a lump-sum $5 million payment to all eligible victims.

On top of that, the plan recommends that the City pay each eligible household up to $97,000 annually, for the next 250 years.

The Plan would wipe out all debts owed by eligible persons.

In a city the size of San Francisco, the cost of this program will quickly reach into the trillions of dollars. Eligibility criteria are outlined in the plan on page 30.

The plan calls for a “reparations tax” to finance the efforts. No details are included on who would pay the tax, but the plan includes several proposals for exempting the recipients of reparations from paying any City/County taxes or fees.

As I mentioned, there are some 106 other recommendations. Here’s one of my favorites, (this is California, after all),

Here’s an interesting one,

The group has worked with remarkable speed. The 15-person committee was organized in June 2021 and sunsets in June 2023.

The President of the Board of Supervisors, Aaron Peskin, is quoted as saying,

“There are so many efforts that result in incredible reports that just end up gathering dust on a shelf,” Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We cannot let this be one of them.”

We’ll be keeping an eye on their progress.