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

Chapter 19, Article II sets a separate license tax rate for each business classification rather than one flat city fee. The default class, Section 19-23, covers any retail seller or business "not otherwise specifically licensed by other sections of this chapter" and taxes it on a sliding gross-receipts scale: $25 for receipts under $25,000, rising in steps to $1,000 for the first $1,000,000 plus $100 for every additional $100,000. Other classifications are taxed on a different basis entirely. Wholesalers pay a flat $100 a year plus $10 per employee (Sec.

19-25). Contractors choose between $100 annually plus $10 per employee, or $50 per quarter plus $10 per employee per quarter (Sec. 19-26), and the section expressly reaches subcontractors and specialty contractors with no fixed place of business in the city. Professions such as accountants, architects, attorneys, engineers and chiropractors pay $200 per practitioner per year plus $10 per employee (Sec. 19-27). 75% of gross annual receipts earned within the city (Sec. 19-24). Every classification is billed under the same procedural rules: annual gross-receipts licenses are due by February 1, other annual licenses by August 1, and licensees may split the tax into two installments. Miss the deadline and the collector adds a 10% penalty for each month delinquent, capped at 50% of the tax owed (Sec. 19-21).