Oakland voters will be asked to increase city sales tax; council rejects parcel tax proposal

by Kiley Russell, Bay City News December 18, 2024December 17, 2024

Voters in Oakland will go to the polls April 15, 2025, to decide on a new mayor and city councilmember — and whether to hike the local sales tax by a half-cent to help reduce a structural budget deficit. (Glenn Gehlke/Local News Matters)

The Oakland City Council voted Monday to place a half-cent sales tax increase on a special election ballot in April to help fix a long-term structural budget problem but declined to ask voters to weigh in on a proposed parcel tax.

If approved by a majority of voters in the April 15 special election — which also includes a mayoral and a City Council seat contest — the measure would hike the city’s sales tax from 10.25 percent to 10.75 percent.

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Kiley Russell, Bay City News

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

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