The Fresno City Council on Thursday approved a hotly disputed tax on new homes and apartments even as city staff worked out the complex rules on the dais.

While the first city council meeting about the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax surrounded how home prices would be affected, the meeting on Thursday drew business owners asking how much more it will cost them to build.

Investor and developer Kanwal Singh said during the meeting the VMT program pushes Fresno backwards by “double-taxing” projects.

“If this passes as written, the math stops working. I will leave my land as is and halt the planned projects and move my investment to the neighboring cities where I can build with reasonable rules, not roadblocks,” Singh said at the meeting.

Granville Homes President and CEO Darius Assemi s

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