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Businesses and residents urge more outreach as National City considers gross-receipts business tax
Summary
After staff presentations, dozens of business owners and residents spoke during public comment—many opposed a gross-receipts business-license tax and warned it would be passed on to consumers or harm low-margin small businesses; labor (firefighters) voiced support for letting voters decide.
After staff and consultant presentations, the meeting moved to a lengthy public comment period in which many business representatives, residents and community groups urged more time, analysis and outreach before placing a gross-receipts business-license measure on the ballot.
Sharon Cloward, representing the San Diego Working Waterfront (about 800 waterfront businesses), said the proposal would raise prices and that the survey and staff materials understate the impacts: "This is a bad idea that will impact your constituents... this is a tax on anything purchased in the city," she said.
Miriam Mendoza, speaking for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber opposes placing a gross-receipts tax on the November 2026 ballot and asked the council to explore other approaches: "The initiative will also tax good and services multiple times for reaching the end consumer, ultimately increasing costs not only for businesses, but also residents."
Dealerships and port-related businesses warned of concrete business impacts. A representative of Massey Nissan said the measure would hurt the dealership and could force layoffs or relocation. Sophie Sylvester of the Pasha Group urged the city to consider supply-chain effects and said she did not see meaningful reflection of industry feedback in the alternatives presented.
Trade and business speakers repeatedly questioned the survey and process: several asked why the sample (412 likely voters) was not larger, why the poll was only in English and Spanish while other local languages are common, and whether voters were told how the city defined "large businesses." Richard Bernard, the consultant, said the survey was randomized across phone and online modes, that 18% of respondents took it in Spanish, and that the study focused on likely voters for November 2026.
Not all public comment opposed the idea. Jeremy Day, president of the National City Firefighters, supported moving a compromise forward, saying the city's current business-license structure is outdated and urging that voters be allowed to decide: "This measure is about modernizing an outdated system... Let the residents decide whether a system designed nearly 47 years ago still makes sense for the national city of today."
Speakers asked for more time to analyze expenditures and for additional outreach to small-business communities and non-English language groups. The council voted to end the public comment period by roll call vote; no vote was taken to place any measure on the ballot at this meeting.
