Redlands Sales Tax Rate: 8.75% Breakdown and Measure T

The sales tax rate in Redlands, California is 8.75%. That rate has been in place since Measure T took effect in 2021, and it applies to every taxable purchase made within city limits, whether you’re buying at a store, ordering a meal, or having something shipped to a Redlands address from out of state.¹

How the 8.75% Is Built

The total you see on a Redlands receipt is three separate taxes stacked together:

7.25% is California’s statewide base rate. Every city in the state starts here.¹
0.50% is a San Bernardino County district tax that funds regional transportation improvements.
1.00% is Measure T, the local transaction and use tax that Redlands voters approved in November 2020. It raised the city’s rate from 7.75% to 8.75%.²

The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration collects the full 8.75% from businesses and sends each portion to the right jurisdiction. The Measure T penny comes back to the City of Redlands and cannot be taken by the state.²

Confirming the Rate for a Specific Address

Local rates in California can shift when voters approve new measures or old ones expire. The CDTFA keeps an address-level lookup at maps.cdtfa.ca.gov that returns the exact rate for any location in the state.³ This matters near city edges, where the rate can change from one side of a street to the other, and it’s the right place to check if you’re unsure whether a given address sits inside Redlands or in an unincorporated area with a different rate.

What the Tax Applies To

Sales tax in California covers “tangible personal property”—anything you can see, weigh, measure, feel, or touch.⁴ Clothing, electronics, furniture, appliances, building materials, and vehicles are all taxable. If you walk out of a store with a physical product, assume it’s taxed at 8.75% in Redlands.

The 8.75% also applies as a “use tax” to taxable goods you buy from out-of-state sellers and have delivered to a Redlands address. Online shopping doesn’t avoid it. Out-of-state retailers that ship more than $500,000 of goods into California in the current or prior year must register with the CDTFA and collect the local rate at checkout.⁵ For purchases from smaller sellers that don’t collect it, the buyer is technically responsible for reporting and paying the use tax, and California’s income tax return has a line for it.

Groceries, Prescriptions, and Other Exemptions

Several categories are carved out of the tax base. The ones that come up most often for Redlands shoppers:

Most grocery food is exempt. Fresh produce, meat, dairy, bread, cereal, and bottled water are not taxed when you buy them to take home. The exemption falls away when the food is sold heated, served as a prepared meal, eaten on the seller’s premises, sold through a vending machine, or consumed at a venue that charges admission. A cold deli sandwich you take with you is exempt; the same sandwich heated or eaten at the store’s seating area is taxable.⁶
Carbonated beverages and alcoholic drinks are specifically excluded from the food exemption. Both are always taxable, even when bought at a grocery store.⁶
Prescription medicines and certain qualifying medical devices are exempt.⁷
Diesel fuel and LPG used in farming receive partial exemptions.⁷

Labor and Services

Pure services are not taxed in California. An accountant preparing your return or a lawyer drafting a contract charges no sales tax. The question gets harder when labor and goods are bundled.

Fabrication labor, meaning work that creates something new like custom cabinetry or jewelry, is taxable, because the labor produces a tangible product. Installation labor, such as mounting a TV or hooking up an appliance, is generally exempt. Repair labor on a car or appliance is also exempt, while the parts used in the repair stay taxable.

Across all of these, the invoice decides the outcome. If labor and materials are lumped into a single line item, the CDTFA treats the whole charge as a taxable sale of goods. Separately stating the labor charge is what keeps the exempt portion exempt.

Vehicles and Private-Party Sales

A one-off sale of personal belongings, like a garage sale or selling a used couch to a neighbor, may qualify as an exempt “occasional sale.” That exemption does not reach vehicles, boats, aircraft, or mobile homes. Tax on those is collected at registration whether you bought from a dealer or a private party.⁸

Where the Measure T Penny Goes

Measure T revenue is deposited into the Redlands general fund and can be spent on any municipal purpose. The ballot measure listed police patrols, fire protection, paramedic and 911 response, homelessness services, library operations, and maintenance of parks, sidewalks, and roads as intended uses, though the city is not legally required to spend it on any particular service.²

The tax generates roughly $20 million a year, about 16 percent of the city’s approximately $128 million general fund. That is nearly double the $10.7 million originally estimated when voters approved it in 2020.⁹ An independent citizens’ oversight committee reviews the revenue and spending at least once a year, and the city is required to commission an independent financial audit annually.² The oversight committee has noted that because Measure T money is pooled with other general fund dollars, tying every specific expenditure back to the tax is not always possible. Measure T has no expiration date and stays in effect until voters repeal it.

1
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. California City and County Sales and Use Tax Rates
2
San Bernardino County. Impartial Analysis of Measure T
3
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Find a Sales and Use Tax Rate
4
California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code RTC 6016
5
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Your California Sellers Permit
6
California Legislative Information. California Code Revenue and Taxation Code RTC 6359
7
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Common Sales and Use Tax Nontaxable Sales and Partial Exemptions
8
California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Sales and Use Tax Law – Section 6367
9
City of Redlands. Measure T Citizens Oversight Committee FY 2025 Annual Report