CUPERTINO — The home of the world’s most valuable company may soon start taxing businesses with more than 100 workers $1,000 per employee.

Cupertino Mayor Barry Chang said the idea has been on his mind for months. But when the Santa Clara County Democratic Club unanimously endorsed a proposed new business tax in San Jose, Chang said his city is next.

“Low-income people work their butts off — excuse my language — and they still cannot survive here,” Chang said Wednesday. “Traffic is getting worse and worse. Homeless people are freezing to death. As political leaders, we should all feel a little ashamed.”

Chang’s proposal, which the City Council is expected to consider next month, is expected to take a much bigger bite out of Cupertino’s most famous corporate resident, Apple. The computer giant is expected to expand its workforce in the suburban city from 16,000 to 23,400 workers with the opening of a second campus.

Some of Chang’s council colleagues signaled they’d like big employers’ buy-in before charging ahead. Councilman Darcy Paul said he wants to see Apple and the region’s other major companies “voluntarily and actively involved” in discussions about the new business tax.

“I believe that they would support a well-considered solution,” Paul said.

Chang’s is the latest of several tax proposals being floated this year. San Jose officials are weighing a city sales tax for the June ballot. The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority is considering a November sales tax measure earmarked for various transportation projects, which would require two-thirds voter approval. And a San Jose State professor is gathering signatures for a November measure to raise taxes on large San Jose businesses, which would pay based on gross receipts or payroll for corporate headquarters.

Chang says general sales tax increases are “regressive” because they hit low-income residents hardest.

While San Jose’s business and sales tax proposals aim to raise revenue for various needs including police and fire protection and road maintenance, Chang said Cupertino’s chief need is traffic relief. Apple’s new “spaceship” campus in the city has drawn grumbling from residents about exacerbating existing traffic problems.

Chang, a Democrat running for state Assembly in District 24, admitted that Cupertino giving Apple the green light to expand its headquarters contributed to the traffic congestion. Now he believes Apple and other big companies should step up and pay more taxes to fix the problem.

“Apple is making so much money,” Chang said. “I know they’ll fight me on this, but I’m not worried about it. This is the right thing to do. They can’t always just think about profits and not care about the community.”

Chang, who will be termed out in 2018, said he spoke with Apple representatives about the plan recently and was met with resistance. Jason Lundgaard, Apple’s manager of state and local government affairs, was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Apple spokesman Colin Johnson declined to comment because “details about the proposal are not available yet.”

Chang says the revenue from the proposed tax would be used to build a mass light-rail transit system to get Cupertino residents and employees off the roads to reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions. He came up with the $1,000-per-employee figure based on the costs of each person riding public transit every working day of the year. If each employee pays $4 a day for 260 working days, he estimated, that comes out to about $1,000 a year.

Cupertino currently charges businesses a flat fee of $133 per year then a varying amount based on square footage for commercial businesses within city limits. Those amounts are adjusted annually due to inflation. The new tax would be in addition to the existing business tax.

By comparison, San Jose charges businesses $150 annually, plus $18 per employee per year for those with more than eight employees, but that amount is capped at $25,000 a year.

Chang says the proposal can be approved by a majority City Council vote and doesn’t require voter approval.

Councilman Rod Sinks said he supports Chang’s idea if it means resolving the city’s growing traffic problem.

“I certainly support the concept of a tax on businesses to help us pay for transit,” Sinks said. “You can’t convince people to get out of their cars unless you have an alternative that’s faster.”

Contact Ramona Giwargis at 408-920-5705. Follow her at Twitter.com/ramonagiwargis.