The City of Hayward is moving forward with an update to its Business License Tax (BLT) structure to better reflect today's business environment. Hayward’s current BLT structure has remained largely unchanged since 1978—nearly five decades ago. Since that time, the local economy and the types of businesses operating in Hayward have evolved significantly.
As part of this effort, the City is seeking feedback from Hayward businesses to help inform the details of a potential updated structure.
The image below shows a preliminary example of a possible updated tax structure that is being evaluated for discussion purposes. The proposed structure introduces a tiered approach based on gross receipts, meaning that businesses may pay different tax rates depending on their revenue, as shown in the column "Tax Rates by Bracket" below. In general, larger businesses would pay higher rates per $1,000 of gross receipts, while smaller businesses would pay lower rates. The structure also includes a minimum annual tax, which represents the base amount all businesses would pay regardless of size or revenue.
In addition to gross receipts-based taxes, the proposal includes an Alternative Payroll Tax. This applies to businesses that do not report gross receipts in Hayward, such as administrative offices or back-office functions that support business activities occurring outside of Hayward. For these businesses, the tax would be based on payroll instead of revenue.