Should the Haines Borough take a position on a statewide sales tax or a state income tax?
The borough assembly will meet as a committee 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 to discuss whether to take positions on those and other questions being discussed by the Alaska Legislature as it tries to balance its lopsided budget.
State Rep. Sam Kito, D-Juneau, attended Tuesday night’s assembly meeting via teleconference and said hearing community sentiment on tax issues would be useful.
“Any effort helps. Any comment the borough has as an assembly we take under advisement definitely. Those are things that get weighed… It would be beneficial for us, both Sen. (Dennis) Egan and myself, to have some documentation to take to committee,” Kito said.
Other communities, including Petersburg, have taken positions on statewide taxes in recent months. Alaska Gov. Bill Walker, speaking to local government officials at November’s Alaska Municipal League convention, also asked communities to address statewide tax issues.
Comments at Tuesday’s meeting were against a statewide sales tax, which would be added to a municipal sales tax of 5.5 percent.
Borough lobbyist Bill Thomas also sent a list of questions to the municipality recently, asking what position the borough would have on several potential issues. They include if the state Department of Transportation tries to “give” the community the Haines airport or state roads in Haines, including Main Street and Front Street.
Thomas also asked if he should lobby to have state parks in Haines transferred to the municipality in the event the state decides to close them.
Other statewide questions the borough may want to take a position on included a state tax on fuels and marine fuels and capping Permanent Fund Dividend checks.
Assembly member Tom Morphet, who called for the meeting, said as long as the municipality has a lobbyist on its payroll and at the capital, it should be making its wishes known in Juneau.