It provided the original funding for many fo Zurich's public services.

> San Francisco is just as wealthy as Zurich

Kinda, but in a very different way. It requieres way more people, so it imports way more people. This makes the city more dynamic but also makes it harder to do sensible long term urban planning for example.

Also many services grew organically and are disfunctional such as the healthcare system in the US. That alone could fix many of SF problems, related to drug abuse (which is a healthcare problem not a crime one), medical related poverty and homelessness and mental illeness. With that alone, ignoring other solutions you would see a massive improvement in QoL in SF.