Background
Like other California cities, the City of Benicia (City) requires that, generally, any person or entity conducting business in the City pay a business license tax (BLT) to the City. It is not a tax on residents, consumers, or users who are not business owners or operators.
For most businesses, the City's current BLT is the sum of three components: a personnel tax of $7.50 per person employed or compensated (prorated below 2,000 hours); a multifamily residential rental tax of $36.00 per rental unit, with exemptions for small buildings and units occupied by seniors or lower-income households; and a gross receipts tax at tiered rates of $0.75, $0.65, or $0.55 per $1,000 depending on business type, subject to per-business minimums and a $450.00 annual maximum. Solicitors, farmer's market vendors, and fair participants instead pay a flat $15.00 alternate tax. Other than the rates on gross receipts which are fixed under the current ordinance, these dollar amounts are adjusted annually for inflation.
Proposal
If approved, each business with less than $100,000 in gross receipts would be exempt from the BLT, and each business would have an annual maximum license tax of $25,000. The maximum license tax would be initially set at $1,500, and increased 10% each year until reaching $25,000 per year. The proposed ordinance also establishes a separate BLT on marine terminal businesses in the City at a rate of 3 percent of gross receipts, and the marine terminal tax is not subject to the maximum license tax.
Source: Impartial Analysis of Measure X