My Turn: Look before you leap on property tax cap

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, September 23, 2025

For those thinking about voting for a cap on property taxes, I recommend you look before you leap. While its authors assert that this cap is about “affordability,” this cap does nothing to address affordability, and may instead cripple our city while passing on its greatest benefits to our wealthiest citizens. I will be voting NO on Propositions 1 and 2 for the following reason.

Firstly, the property tax cap will limit the contributions of those people most able to pay them: property owners. Juneau is a relatively affluent city. Fully 9.7% of our households are millionaires, a higher proportion than nearly any American city our size, and we can be confident that nearly all of these people own property, some with extensive rental property and land holdings. These individuals and businesses will be the biggest beneficiaries of a tax cap, while all Juneauites will be stuck with the corresponding decline in services created by reduced tax income. If there truly are a few property owners struggling with affordability issues, we can better address them with needs-based relief, rather than handing big tax breaks to our most affluent.

The proposed cap also assumes that it can predict the future. Our city confronts many unexpected costs and crises. Water and sewer operating and capital costs have skyrocketed due to COVID-related inflation and PFAS contamination, two unforeseeable events. The recent jokelhaups have burdened the city with unexpected abatement costs, and may well cause more. Flexible property taxes enable us to respond to these measures, and to build a savings account for that purpose.

Starving our city of property taxes could eliminate the things that make our community appealing to our children and prospective residents. Libraries, pools, quality schools, good harbors and boat launches, Eaglecrest, and our trail system are critical assets that set Juneau apart and are key to its future. There are plenty of “affordable” communities in the Lower 48 that are losing population because “affordability” is the only thing they’ve got going for them. Don’t be so sure that creating a budget crisis for the city will result in cutting only the programs you don’t like.

We all get irritated when politician “A” or bureaucrat “B” does something we don’t approve of. Those who feel the city spends foolishly should advocate for their preferred candidates and against projects they feel are wasteful. Better yet, join a citizen oversight board and work to make things better. Crippling the city with a tax cap may feel to some like striking a blow against spendthrift politicians, but it’s actually striking a blow against ourselves.

Stuart Cohen is a 40-year Juneau resident, businessman and novelist. He volunteers on the Utility Advisory Board, overseeing the water and sewer system.