What do Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway and Seldovia have that Juneau doesn’t? A seasonal sales tax.
A week doesn’t go by without hearing about mill rates increasing, paying for flood protection, controversial bond issues, and school district bailouts. With all the hand-wringing over taxes, why hasn’t CBJ implemented a seasonal tax that could help its budget to the tune of several million dollars per year?
Understandably, there is no perfect seasonal sales tax; it is always going to affect some group: auto dealers and purchasers, seniors, hardware store owners, people buying building materials (those with building permits don’t pay tax on materials), etc. But it’s hard to pass up an opportunity to help CBJs fill its coffers. According to an April 10, 2025, CBJ Finance Report, a seasonal sales tax could bring in $2.4 to $13.7 million of additional tax revenue, depending on how the tax is structured. For example, Skagway has a 5% sales tax from April 1 to Sept. 30 and no sales tax on retail sales within the community the rest of the year. Sitka’s sales tax is 6% from April 1 to Sept. 30 and 5% the rest of the year.
One downside to seasonal sales taxes is they create more work for businesses, especially those dealing with seasonal sales taxes in multiple locations. Every time a sales tax rate changes, point-of-sale systems must be updated to charge the right rate, and imposing a seasonal sales tax on some transactions but not others increases the complexity. However, there are sales tax programs that do the math. If businesses in the other Alaska towns can figure it out, it seems our savvy Juneau businesses should be able to as well.
Any argument that a seasonal sales tax will discourage visitors is specious. For visitors spending thousands of dollars on a cruise, or for hotels and airfare, a few extra bucks is not going to prevent them from visiting. It certainly doesn’t seem to be bothering the 1.5 million visitors to Ketchikan or 585,000 visitors to Sitka.
CBJ is considering putting a seasonal sales tax on the October ballot. This is a clear opportunity to benefit further from the millions of visitors that come to Juneau. Each year that Juneau waits to implement some form of seasonal tax means the community is letting millions of tax dollars slip out the door. Please contact your local assemblyperson and share your thoughts about the need for Juneau to place a seasonal sales tax on the ballot for this fall’s election.
Ken Post has been a resident of Juneau for 46 years.
