text: Just so everyone knows what they are talking about, there are two components to what businesses in Portland pay.  The city business license fee and the county's business income tax.  They are a percentage on GROSS sales, so they are, in effect a gross receipts tax.  They put Portland at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to opening businesses when compared with Clackamas and Washington counties.  We successfully lobbied for a reduction in the city's portion of that a decade ago when I was serving on the Small Business Advisory Council.
  
  I am pretty sure Wheeler negotiated in reduction in the county's portion when he was chair.