Tobacco, fishing taxes could be coming to Alaska island

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) - New tobacco and chartered sport fishing taxes could be coming to Kodiak.

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly is considering the taxes to make up for this upcoming fiscal year’s budget gap, which is believed to be between $1.3 million and $1.9 million, Kodiak Daily Mirror reported (https://bit.ly/2ql0S7v ) Friday.

The taxes combined could save the borough $225,000 next year and $500,000 the following year, officials said.

The tobacco tax is the larger of the two. It is a proposed $1-per-pack cigarette excise tax that would be in addition to state and federal tobacco taxes. The tobacco tax could save the borough $200,000 in the last six months of the next budget, officials said. That amount is based on an estimated 400,000 packs of cigarettes sold in the borough per year.

The charter fishing tax would be a flat rate for every box of fish that goes off the island, Borough assessor Bill Roberts said. It would be similar to commercial fisherman, loggers and gravel quarry miners, he said.

“With a tobacco tax, we could issue a license to all wholesalers, and then we can do audits on them and make sure they report what they are selling,” Roberts said. “The (charter operation) proposal is for a flat rate for every box of fish that goes off island. We would have to set up a licensing system.”

The fishing severance tax amount has yet to be determined.

Both taxes would be exempt from state laws requiring voters to approve new taxes in October local elections, Borough administrators said.

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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, https://www.kodiakdailymirror.com