A company that leases heavy machinery, light trucks and other passenger vehicles in Deadhorse has agreed to pay the state $1.5 million to settle a tax dispute, the Alaska Department of Law announced late Friday.
The state learned during an investigation in 2013 that Delta Leasing LLC, which provides services to the oil industry and does business in Anchorage, had found that the company had not paid the state's passenger vehicle rental tax for "several years," the department said in prepared statement.
Delta Leasing believed the tax did not apply to its vehicle rentals, while the state said the taxes should have been paid, the statement said.
"The state and Delta Leasing both recognize that application of the rental vehicle tax raises legal issues that have not been addressed by the courts and both want to resolve the matter," the agency said, explaining the reason for the settlement.
The statement did not explain why the Delta Leasing believed it did not need to pay the taxes.
Delta Leasing was established in 2002. The majority owner is Old Harbor Native Corp., a Native village corporation led by chief executive Carl Marrs, state business records show.
Delta Leasing's 49-percent owner is Last Frontier Leasing, owned in part by Rudi von Imhof, husband of former Anchorage school board member Natasha von Imhof, a Republican who recently won a state Senate primary race for a south and midtown Anchorage seat.
Efforts to reach Rudi von Imhof and Delta Leasing officials late Friday were unsuccessful.