It may come as a surprise to Alaska residents as well as seasonal workers, that Alaska used to have a very fair income tax. When I moved up here years ago, I had to pay a complicated state income tax for Minnesota that year. And the year I worked in California on the other natural gas line (the Northwest Alaska Gas Line Project) as an Alaska resident, I still had to pay a California income tax for the money I earned while living for a few months in that state. Both of those income taxes were much more complicated than Alaska’s state income tax, which was simply a percentage of my federal tax. It was simple and made me feel good about supporting this state.
But then Alaska got rich from the oil, and everything changed. When they repealed Alaska’s personal income tax, they also repealed the business income tax. So now people can come from anywhere in the world, take advantage of our resources, public services, roads, parks and everything else, and not contribute a dime to Alaska. And our government simply sits by and revels in this economic free-for-all. But it’s not free for us residents who live here during the winter and pay the utilities, high prices and other taxes imposed on us.
I guess our legislators have their noses so far up into the air that they don’t understand what’s happening down here in the trenches. Out-of-town people love this state because they can come up here, make a bunch of money and then get the heck out of here. So we don’t have to bring back any new or old personal income tax, just bring back the old business income tax that provided for money-making corporations and businesses to pay part of their fair share. So when you hear the phrase that politicians love, “Let’s not tax hard-working Alaska families,” remember that those ads are being paid for by non-working corporate entities that love to come up here and make a bunch of un-taxed money. Soon, they will be able to buy most of the real estate up here and rent it back to the people who live here. It’s time for our government to wake up!
Mark A. Martinson
Anchorage
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