'Tax Policy'
Influencing Policy By Threatening Nonprofits
This letter was sent to United Way of Anchorage by Senator Hollis French and Representative Les Gara. I think it speaks for itself…
April 10, 2006
United Way of Anchorage
701 W. 8th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501
Dear XXXXX:
We recently learned that representatives from your organization and other Anchorage nonprofits were invited to attend a meeting hosted by ConocoPhillips to [...]
A Clouded Issue
Once up a time, there was a great bill. A bill that would help prevent homelessness due to bankruptcies and foreclosures. A bill that allowed low-income individuals and families to defer their property tax payments when they were unable to pay them. It was called Senate Bill 193.
“Hey wait…I [...]
Anchorage Property Tax Bafflers
I have been thinking about property taxes lately, and talking to a few “people in the know,” and I remain baffled by a few things. For example, in an earlier blog I quoted a study by UAA’s Institute for Social and Economic Research [...]
30 New MOA Employees Needed To Administer Sales Tax
Here is a rather amazing quote from the March 26 issue of Alaska Journal of Commerce. The quote is from Jeff Sinz, Anchorage’s Chief Financial Officer, regarding Proposition 13, the proposed sales tax:
Now Available: Sales Tax Calculator
Assembly Member Allan Tesche and his colleague Dick Tremaine have devised a sales tax calculator tool so you can plug in your personal information to find out how a sales tax would impact your family. The tax calculator is built on an Excel spread sheet, so you will need to have a recent copy [...]
Sales Tax: How Real Families Would Be Affected
I have written before in this blog about various aspects of the proposed Anchorage sales tax, however I was struck by the lack of serious analysis and projects considering the importance of the subject. I was forced to rely on various studies that were done earlier in Alaska, or were done elsewhere. However, [...]
Billions for BP: Trickle Down for Alaska
British Petroleum raked in $66 billion dollars in revenue this last quarter, up 22% over the previous quarter. BP cleared $3.7 billion in profits during the same period. A lot of this revenue came from Alaska oil, oil that belongs to Alaskans–oil that belongs to homeless Alaskans, Alaska veterans, Alaska children who do [...]
Property Taxes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
We come to the consideration of property taxes indirectly, by way of consideration of sales taxes touted as “property tax relief” for home owners. We have had several previous blog articles on the issues of sales and property taxes. This discussion will takes us a bit further into the issues of property taxes. [...]