Hayward’s solution to their budget shortfall could be a potential business license tax measure update. Hayward city manager Jennifer Ott said during the Jan. 20 council meeting that they plan to modernize their business license tax. The tax charges anyone who has a business or does business with Hayward a yearly fee.
The financial director said the first step would be to work with Oakland consulting group Blue Sky to review their current business license tax and compare it to other jurisdictions. The city’s license tax hasn’t been updated in decades. Staff would present an update on the consulting group’s research at the Feb. 28 council meeting.
In March, the council can then decide if it wants to continue with potential ballot measure research and polling. The city would then decide in May if it wants to consider a potential ballot measure that would charge businesses an annual fee for running a business in the city.
Matthew Newman from Blue Sky joined the meeting virtually to answer any council questions. Councilmember George Syrop asked what a progressive business license tax would look like.
Newman said they recently helped update Oakland’s business tax. He said their license tax rates were higher for businesses that made more revenue, which are likely large companies.
“In Oakland, they did spend a lot of time, and we worked carefully with them to make sure that we didn’t tax business so much that they decided to leave,” Newman said. “Some care has to be paid to making sure that the tax rates aren’t so high that moving to a neighboring city looks like an attractive idea.”
