CC 6-19-18 Written Communications Item #5 Business License Tax Presentation1
Potential Restructuring of the Business
License Tax
June 18, 2018
Employer-Based Revenue Measure
Background
•March 2018: 2018-19 Work Program - Employer-
based revenue measure to address traffic
congestion
•May 2018: voter poll
•June 5, 2018: study session on potential revenue
measures
•June 18: Business Forum
CC 6/19/18 Item #5
2
Business License Tax Structures
●Square Footage (current)
●Payroll
●Base + rate per employee
Current Structure - $800,000 FY17-18
Square Footage Range Rate Tax Range
Home Occupations - 0 0 $144
1-5,000 0.0380 $144-$334
5,001-25,000 0.0331 $334-$996
25,001-75,000 0.0287 $996-$2,431
75,001-100,000 0.0237 $2,431-$3,024
100,001-150,000 0.0189 $3,024-$3,969
150,001+ 0.0048 $3,969+
3
Over 3,800 Business Licensees
70%
25%
4%
1%
0 SF
1‐5,000 SF
5,001‐25,000 SF
25,001‐75,000 SF
75,001‐100,000 SF
Payroll Taxes Agency
Payroll
Expense
Threshold
Payroll Tax
Rate
San Francisco, CA >$300,000 0.711%
Newark, NJ >$2,500 1%
Jersey City, NJ
(Proposed) TBD 1%
(Proposed)
Tri-Met
Transportation
District (Oregon)
All wages 0.7537%
Lane County Mass
Transit District
(Oregon)
All wages 0.73%
New York City
Metropolitan
Transportation
Authority (MTA)
>$312,500 to
$375,000
>$375,000 to
$437,500
>$437,500
0.11%
0.23%
0.34%
• Tax rate applied
to salaries/wages
• SF is transitioning
away from a
payroll tax to tax
on gross receipts
4
Employee-Count Business Tax
●Employers pay a per employee (EE)
amount
●Flat rates for small businesses
●Progressive per-EE rate
increases as EE count increases
Employee-Count Model Assumptions
●3,500 non-exempt business licenses
with 39,000 employees
●2,200 out-of-town businesses
●Data from CA EDD, US Census,
and City BL database
●No EE rate for first 99 employees
●No cap
5
Few Medium to Large Businesses
●One business
employs 2/3 of
Cupertino
workers
●Only about 30
businesses would
be subject to per-
employee rate
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000
1-10
11-50
51-100
101-250
251-500
501-1,000
1,001-5,000
5,001+
Estimated Employees
by Business Size
Model 1: per EE rate up to $150
Employee
Range # Businesses
Estimated #
Employees Base Rate
Employee
Rate
Total
BL Tax
1‐93,128 3,400 150 ‐ 469,200$
10‐49 300 4,000 250 ‐ 75,000$
50‐99 40 2,400 500 ‐ 20,000$
100‐249 25 3,350 500 50$ 56,250$
250‐499 5 1,350 500 75$ 47,625$
500‐999 1 500 500 100$ 26,725$
1,000‐4,999 500 125$ ‐
5,000+ 1 24,000 500 150$ 3,426,550$
Total 3,500 39,000 4,121,350$
6
Model 2: per EE rate up to $300
Employee
Range # Businesses
Estimated #
Employees Base Rate
Employee
Rate
Total
BL Tax
1‐93,128 3,400 150 ‐ 469,200$
10‐49 300 4,000 250 ‐ 75,000$
50‐99 40 2,400 500 ‐ 20,000$
100‐249 25 3,350 500 50$ 55,000$
250‐499 5 1,350 500 100$ 50,000$
500‐999 1 500 500 150$ 33,000$
1,000‐4,999 500 200$ ‐
5,000+ 1 24,000 500 300$ 6,608,000$
Total 3,500 39,000 7,310,200$
Model 3: per EE rate up to $425
Employee
Range # Businesses
Estimated #
Employees Base Rate
Employee
Rate
Total
BL Tax
1‐93,128 3,400 150 ‐ 469,200$
10‐49 300 4,000 500 ‐ 150,000$
50‐99 40 2,400 500 ‐ 20,000$
100‐249 25 3,350 500 75$ 78,125$
250‐499 5 1,350 500 100$ 68,875$
500‐999 1 500 500 200$ 36,775$
1,000‐4,999 500 300$ ‐$
5,000+ 1 24,000 500 425$ 9,411,500$
Total 3,500 39,000 10,234,475$
7
Model 4: per EE rate up to $1,000
Employee
Range # Businesses
Estimated #
Employees Base Rate
Employee
Rate
Total
BL Tax
1‐93,128 3,400 150 ‐ 469,200$
10‐49 300 4,000 500 ‐ 150,000$
50‐99 40 2,400 500 ‐ 20,000$
100‐249 25 3,350 500 50$ 56,250$
250‐499 5 1,350 500 100$ 50,250$
500‐999 1 500 500 250$ 33,100$
1,000‐4,999 ‐ ‐ 500 500$ ‐
5,000+ 1 24,000 500 1,000$ 21,158,100$
Total 3,500 39,000 21,936,900$
Model 5: per EE rate up to $1,500
Employee
Range # Businesses
Estimated #
Employees Base Rate
Employee
Rate
Total
BL Tax
1‐93,128 3,400 150 ‐ 469,200$
10‐49 300 4,000 500 ‐ 150,000$
50‐99 40 2,400 500 ‐ 20,000$
100‐249 25 3,350 500 75$ 78,125$
250‐499 5 1,350 500 100$ 68,875$
500‐999 1 500 500 250$ 36,825$
1,000‐4,999 ‐ ‐ 500 750$ ‐
5,000+ 1 24,000 500 1,500$ 31,662,075$
Total 3,500 39,000 32,485,100$
8
Model 6: per EE rate up to $700
Range # Businesses
Estimated #
Employees Base Rate
Empoyee
Rate
Total
BL Tax
1‐93,128 3,400 150 ‐ 469,200$
10‐49 300 4,000 500 ‐ 150,000$
50‐99 40 2,400 500 ‐ 20,000$
100‐249 25 3,350 500 50$ 56,250$
250‐499 5 1,350 500 100$ 50,250$
500‐999 1 500 500 200$ 33,050$
1,000‐4,999 500 350$ ‐
5,000+ 1 24,000 500 700$ 14,833,000$
Total 3,500 39,000 15,611,750$
Other Key Parameters
●General vs. Specific
●Part-time employees
●Other business types
●Inflation index
●Annual audits
●Timeline and phasing
9
Potential Projects
●Transportation
●Public infrastructure
●Potential partnerships for
affordable housing development
Electric Community Shuttle
●6 shuttles operating
weekdays 8 am to 6 pm
~$1.5M/year
●6 shuttles operating
daily
8 am to 6 pm
~$2M/year
10
Library Expansion
●“Perch” Addition
●Approximate Size:
4,420sf
●Estimated Cost:
~$8.5M
New City Hall
●Approximate Size
40,000 sf
●Two Floors with
Underground
Parking
●Estimated Cost:
~$75-95M
11
Enhanced Community Facilities
Potential Amenities include:
●Aquatic Center (2 pool): ~$25-50M
●Multistory Gym (50k s.f.): ~$50-100M
●Multistory Arts / Performance/
Community/ Incubator Space
(100k s.f.): ~$80 - 120M
●Renovated Sports Center: ~$15-18M
●Expanded Senior Center: ~$10-15M
Bicycle Transportation Plan
●Stevens Creek Class IV Bike
Lanes, Phases 2 & 3: ~$5-6M
●McClellan/DeAnza Intersection
Reconfiguration: ~$1-2M
●Bike/Ped Overcrossing of
Hwy 85 at the Oaks: ~$10-20M
●Carmen Rd Bridge: ~$2-4M
●Junipero Serra Trail: ~$7-52M
●Regnart Creek Trail: ~$5-6M
●UPRR Bridge to Snyder-Hammond:
~$2-6M
●UPRR Trail - ~$10-20M
12
Hwy 85 Transit Guideway Study – Hwy
101 in San Jose to Hwy 101 in Mt. View
Although $350M is
currently included in the
Santa Clara County
Measure B Program, this
funding could bridge any
gaps to expedite
planning and design -
~$5-10M
Automated Guideway Transit Study – Mt.
View Transit Station to I-280/Wolfe Rd
Study to connect future
Mountain View system
(North Bayshore to
downtown transit station)
to Apple/Vallco area.
Study cost - ~$1.5-2M
13
Transit Study – Stevens Creek
Corridor to Downtown San Jose
Study to connect the
Cupertino and Santa Clara
and downtown San Jose
with timely and viable
transit, possible subway
system. Conceptual Study
cost - ~$1.5-2M
Leveraging Revenue
Model EE Rates
Est. Rev
(in millions)
Est. COP
(in millions)
1 $50-150 $4.1 $41.0
2 $50-300 $7.3 $73.0
3 $75-425 $10.2 $102.0
4 $50-1,000 $21.9 $219.0
5 $50-1,500 $32.5 $325.0
14
Tax Agreements
●Council may enter into tax
agreements to refund BLT for:
●community benefit
●public-private partnerships
Business Outreach
●Continuing discussions with
Chamber of Commerce
●Targeted largest businesses for
one-on-one meetings
●Business Forum on June 18th
15
Initial Business Feedback
●Timeline seems rushed
●Not enough business outreach
●Revenue should be tied to a
solution
Next Steps
●July 3: Ballot language approval to meet
November 2018 deadline (due to Council
recess)
●Arguments & rebuttals (Council
designee)
●Resolution on expenditure priorities (TBD)