Cupertino, California can keep millions of sales tax dollars from Apple, despite a lengthy state audit questioning the city’s tax agreement that left it with a budget shortfall, reports San Jose Spotlight.
The city has announced a settlement with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, allowing Cupertino to retain sales tax revenue from Apple since the state began an audit in 2021 through August. In 2023, the state audit found some of Apple’s local sales tax dollars were misallocated. Under the settlement, the city will no longer receive the sales tax distribution the state determined should go to other jurisdictions beginning in 2025.
The Cupertino City Council set aside roughly US$77.5 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year budget for potential sales tax repayments to the state tax association, all of which it will now be able to access. The city Cupertino was saddled with a roughly $15 million deficit due to the audit and the settlement could relieve some of that, for now, according to According to San Jose Spotlight.
Apple has about 25,000 employees in the Bay Area (although it’s not clear how many of these are specifically based in Cupertino). Apple is Cupertino’s largest employer, and has been for years.
In 2016, then-Cupertino mayor and now councilman Barry Chang pushed for a tax of $1,000 per employee on large companies. However, as Cult of Mac notes, the proposal went nowhere.
Cupertino is located in Santa Clara County, directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population is around 60,000.
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