Brisbane City staff outline ballot measure to simplify business license tax

Brisbane City staff on a public focus-group presentation described a proposed ballot initiative to simplify the city's business license tax by combining a small flat fee with a single revenue-linked rate.

Economic Vitality Director Mitch Bull told attendees the city has not revised its business license methodology in 43 years and that the current 17-category system is complicated. "We haven't updated the business license methodology in 43 years," Bull said, arguing the city needs a more even, predictable approach for businesses that currently report limited or no local sales.

Finance Director Carolina Euan described staff's review of three models and explained why the council recommended "model two option three." That proposal, as presented, would impose a modest flat fee (staff cited a $50 annual fee for businesses with under roughly $25,000 in receipts) and a subsequent charge of $1 per $1,000 of gross revenue or cost of operations for amounts above the threshold. "We felt this was easy to understand," Euan said, adding the approach simplifies categories and is easier for businesses to project.

Staff said specialized, voter-approved license taxes (including the city's liquid storage, hotel and recycling business license taxes) would remain unchanged, and that a separate capital-improvement tax already applies to businesses with gross revenue above $10 million; staff noted the projections presented were calculated without applying a cap to that capital-improvement tax while staff evaluate an appropriate cap.

Using data from vendor HDL, staff said Brisbane currently holds 994 business licenses and that most licensees report under $300,000 in annual revenue; the presentation cited 752 licenses under $300,000 (76%) and stated that, on the projections shown to the group and with no cap on the largest firms, the proposed structure could yield roughly $1.8 million in additional revenue.

Staff tested the proposal against sample business types and compared Brisbane's approach with nearby cities. They noted San Francisco's payroll tax and pointed to cities such as Emeryville and San Bruno that have used different structures to encourage redevelopment and attract businesses. "It's basically a dollar per thousand on your gross sales or cost of operation," one presenter said to summarize the charge mechanism.

Attendees asked whether large firms such as Amazon would pay more under the proposal. Staff responded that the business license calculation is limited to activity within Brisbane and that sales-tax payments to the city reduce the business license liability through an offset mechanism. "They're reporting sales tax. So that would reduce the business license portion that they have to pay," a staff member said.

Next steps, as described by staff, include drafting the ballot language, soliciting public feedback in June and returning to the council for required readings and approval on the schedule that meets county elections deadlines. Staff said council action must be completed by August under the timeline they presented; the ordinance process will require two readings prior to placement on the ballot.

Staff invited public review and comment and said they would post the slide deck on the city's business license page and link it from the presentation's YouTube description. For more information, staff directed residents to the City of Brisbane website (brisbaneca.gov) and asked interested parties to submit comments with the subject line "business license tax."