Apple willing to spend $9.7 million on transportation projects in Cupertino, California

The Mercury News reports that Apple is offering to spend $9.7 million on five bike and pedestrian-oriented transportation projects for the city of Cupertino, California, a proposal by the company after the city council agreed last July to put off changes to the business license tax that would have cost Apple $9 million a year.

The tech giant — whose home base is in Cupertino —  approached the city after a proposal last year to change the city’s business license tax from a flat fee with a progressive rate based on total square footage, to a tax based on the number of people a business employs. According to The Mercury News, the change would have generated $10 million in annual revenue, most which would have come from Apple, the city’s largest employer with 24,000 workers.

However, the city decided to postpone a ballot measure to change the business tax until 2020, giving them time to work with Apple and other businesses on private funding to relieve commuter traffic, the article adds. City staff have been meeting with Apple representatives once every two weeks since October.

Last year Cupertino considered a tax that would charge the tech giant an additional fee based on its number of employees. In 2016, then-Cupertino mayor and now councilman Barry Chang pushed for a tax of $1,000 per employee on large companies. However, 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.