OAKLAND — Residents will decide in November whether to overhaul the way the city’s businesses are taxed.
If passed, the measure would scrap the current tax structure that imposes a flat rate on all businesses’ gross receipts and enact a progressive, tiered rate that increases as a company’s gross receipts grow. The council members’ original proposal would have generated $40 million extra per year for the city, but the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce called that too drastic.they had drafted a measure they could all get behind this election. It’s estimated to generate $22 million annually for the city’s general fund, which proponents say could be used toward services such as reducing homelessness and cleaning up city streets.