Portland's Business License Fee Reduced for 13,000 Mostly Smaller, New and Portland-Based Businesses

For the first time in modern Portland history, 13,000 new, smaller and Portland-focused businesses got a reduction on their city Business Licence Fees (BLF).

Portland is a city of small business. The foundation of a strong, sustainable economy is the family-wage job. It's no surprise then that Portland's future success depends on our ability to match small business success with family-wage job growth.

Our economic model depends on creating dynamic new businesses, growing our small and local businesses into regional, national and global competitors, while supporting the traded-sector firms already here.

Because the Business License Fee is assessed only to business transactions that occur within city limits, it inadvertently impacts smaller businesses who have a greater percentage of local transactions. Small business pays disproportionately. This is not good policy for two reasons:

• Businesses are like children: the smaller they are the more vulnerable they are. While it is not government's job to guarantee success for a business, government should use its limited reach to help smaller businesses so they can grow. We want businesses to grow because it broadens citizens' access to job opportunities and brings more prosperity into the community. Businesses grow as they find their market niche and become more stable. A more stable company can and should pay more in taxes.
  
• All of the above is particularly true in Portland, where we are unusually dependent on small businesses.

So giving small businesses a better chance at success by reforming the Business License Fee is particularly good policy for Portland.

Related Documents

• City Council Resolution for January 18th
• Entrepreneurial Investment Strategy Memo to City Council
• What is Fair? A discussion on potential changes to the BLF

Community Partners

• Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations
• Portland Business Alliance
• East Portland Chamber of Commerce
• Small Business Advisory Council

Media Mentions

• "Adams wants to restructure Portland's business income tax," Portland Tribune, November 2
• "Adams revises reforms for city business taxes," Oregonian, November 3
• "Adams leads charge to cut city's business license tax," Portland Business Journal, November 3
• "Sam Adams To Save Small Business?" Blog Town PDX, November 3
• "BLF Is Gonna Rock Ya," Portland Mercury, November 9
• "It's a bit of Alice-In-Wonderland right here in Portland," KINK Considers, November 10
• "Portland's income tax scares VCs," Portland Business Journal, November 17
• "It's hurry up and wait for small-biz owners," Oregonian, November 23
• "Plugging Portland's wasteful brain drain," Oregonian, December 5
• "Editorial: Soften the blow for small businesses," Oregonian, December 8
   

Weblogs

• Entrepreneurial Investment Strategy
  

Milestones

• Commissioner Adam introduces first resolution to reform BLF, April 25, 2006
  
• City Council will consider new reform for the BLF, January 18, 2007
  

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