According to the San Mateo County’s semi-final ballot results from yesterday, Measure T, which would impose a car rental business license tax in unincorporated areas of the county, is winning by 62 votes.

David Tom, the county elections manager, reported to San Jose Mercury News that the county expects to count all the mail-in ballots by the end of the week, if not early next week. Tom said that the mail-in ballots count for at least 1,000 additional votes.

Measure T proposes that a 2.5% tax of the gross receipts of car rental businesses be imposed in order to generate general fund revenue. The measure was accompanied by two other travel-related taxes that both failed to generate enough votes to pass on election day yesterday. The two measures would have increased the hotel occupancy tax (Measure U) from 10% of the room rate to 12% and would have created an 8% business license tax on commercial parking lots (Measure X).

Measure U failed with 53.5% of voters opposing, and Measure X failed with 53.1% of voters opposing.

The American Car Rental Association, the U.S. Travel Association and the San Francisco Travel Association, among others, have been working to fight the taxes, and on June 1, labor union Teamsters Local 853 also voiced its opposition to all three taxes. 

"A new tax won’t put anyone to work, won’t boost anyone’s paycheck, and won’t help create a better living for the working men and women of San Mateo County,” said Daniel Varela, Teamsters Local 853 Business Agent.

Read here the full text of the three measures, and check back for the final results on Measure T.

You can also read the full article from the San Jose Mercury News, here: http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_20793615/two-san-mateo-county-tax-measures-rejected-one

- Joanne M. Tucker

You can read the updated story here.