SAN FRANCISCO—City leaders here are proposing to more than triple a tax on stock compensation in a bid to use revenue from a wave of public offerings by tech companies to address concerns about growing wealth disparity.

The so-called IPO tax would raise the levy on corporations for stock-based compensation to 1.5% from the current rate of 0.38%. That would restore the rate to its level in 2011 when the city, pulling out of recession, cut it as part of a change in its tax structure intended to keep companies from leaving.

Tech companies often compensate employees in part with equity. Such shares can become particularly lucrative in an IPO.

The tax increase would apply to all IPOs after the proposal was introduced this week, including Uber Technologies Inc. which started trading Friday. An Uber spokesman declined to comment.

Gordon Mar, city supervisor of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, who is the measure’s lead sponsor, estimated the tax would generate between $100 million and $200 million over its first two years. He wants the city to spend the money on housing, transportation and health programs to help low- and moderate-income workers afford an increasingly expensive region.