Alameda, CA Local Taxes & Fees: Business Tax Classification (2026)

Every business operating in Alameda is taxed under one of dozens of named classifications set out alphabetically in Sec. 1, and the classification decides the rate. Outdoor advertising and billboard operators pay by gross receipts on a sliding scale starting at $300 a year for under $15,000 in receipts and climbing $150 per additional $30,000 tier above $75,000. General and specialty contractors, such as roofers, plumbers and electricians, pay a flat forty cents per $1,000 of gross receipts, the same rate charged to any business providing services not separately classified elsewhere in the chapter under the catch-all Business and Personal Services category.

For a long list of classes, including contractors, retailers, wholesalers, junk collectors and nonresidential rental property, Sec. 2 lets the City Council set the actual minimum tax by resolution rather than fixing it in the code, and that minimum is adjusted every fiscal year by the change in the San Francisco-Oakland Consumer Price Index. A business that thinks the License Collector put it in the wrong classification, or charged the wrong rate, can appeal in writing to the Bureau of Licenses within ten days of the decision under Sec.

1, and if still unsatisfied, ask the City Council to review that decision within another ten days under Sec. 2; the Council's decision is final and conclusive under Sec. 3.