SF plan would offer tax break for hiring felons

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco businesses that hire people with felony convictions would get a tax break, under legislation expected to be introduced today.

"Ex-felons are among the most challenged populations in getting work," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who is crafting the plan.

Persuading an employer to hire a convicted felon, particularly in this economy when the unemployment rate is hovering just under 10 percent, is difficult, especially when there's a wide pool of job applicants without felony records.

But offering businesses a monetary incentive may get them to consider hiring someone with a criminal past, said Mirkarimi, who chairs the Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee and is a candidate for sheriff in the Nov. 8 election.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/18/MNT31LISSG.DTL

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Hmm, well what about all the people with clean criminal records who can't find jobs? But then a horde of unemployed felons = a danger to the rest of us. And then felons who work could lessen the risk of crime but might slow down productivity.

[RandySF]

1. Good for bad, this will just piss people off.

[EFerrari]

2. Why do you assume ex-felons would slow down productivity?

But by all means, let's keep these people frozen out of gainful employment and dependent on criminal networks only. That'll work.

[canuckledragger]

3. possibly setting the groundwork

..for getting 'white-collar' criminals back to work methinks

[slackmaster]

4. The set of jobs that a felon can legally (or realistically) get is rather limited

A friend of mine works at a meat processing plant. He's one of just a few (out of about 50) employees who is NOT a convicted felon.

You find a lot of them driving taxis and tending bars, but few businesses would hire one for any position that involves handling large amounts of cash or valuables. A fast-food restaurant maybe, but certainly not a bank.

Most government contract work explicitly excludes having convicted felons as employees or subcontractors.

Any position that requires any kind of government security clearance is a no-go.

[Blue_Tires]

5. This program will need some sharp oversight

Lest it becomes the new source of taxpayer-funded cheap, easily-exploitable labor...

And once superiors see someone as a tax break and not quite a person, a VERY abusive atmosphere can follow (i.e., those loving Christian families adopting 6-8 kids from Africa and making them live in a toolshed or something)