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<br />38 <br />Other Taxes and Revenues. <br /> <br />Utility User’s Tax. The utility users tax is the third largest revenue source for the <br />City. The utility users tax is comprised of a tax on utilities, including electric, wired <br />telecom, wireless telecom, natural gas, and cable. <br /> <br />The City’s history of enactments regarding its Utility Users Tax is summarized as <br />follows: <br /> <br />TABLE 13 <br />CITY OF SAN LEANDRO <br />UTILITY USERS TAX HISTORY <br /> <br />Utility Covered Rate <br /> <br />Electric*, Gas*, TV, Telephone 6.0% <br />Cable 6.0 <br />Telecommunication 5.7 <br /> * Exemption on first $34 of gas or electric charges for residential properties. Source: City of San Leandro. <br /> <br />The City’s initial Utility Users Tax (the 5% tax on electric, gas, cable television <br />and telephone utilities with the exceptions noted above) became effective on July 1, <br />1970. Thereafter, the Utility Users Tax was increased without voter approval in 1993 to <br />6% for non–residential users. <br /> <br />On November 4, 2008, the City’s voters approved Measure RR, which authorized <br />application of the Utility Users Tax to situations where there have been changes in <br />technology and laws. Post–1984 technology had rendered the City’s telephone tax less <br />effective in taxing communication services that have, to a significant extent, replaced <br />traditional telephone service. Unless precluded by federal law, Measure RR updates the <br />City’s existing telephone tax to apply to all types of telecommunication, video <br />communication, text messaging, and paging services in addition to the telephone, <br />cellular telephone and voice over internet protocol (“VOIP”) services which are already <br />taxed. Measure RR does not apply to digital downloads (e.g., games, ringtones, music <br />and books). Federal court decisions in other states had recently created a concern as to <br />whether the City’s ordinance, as written prior to adoption of Measure RR, could be <br />properly applied to long distance, cellular, VOIP and bundled telephone services. There <br />is no sunset date for the changes effected by Measure RR. <br /> <br />Transient Occupancy Tax. The City currently levies a transient occupancy tax on <br />hotel and motel bills equal to 10%. The transient occupancy tax is a tax paid by hotel <br />and motel guests who spend fewer than 30 consecutive days in a hotel or motel in the <br />City. <br />