By Suzanne Downing 
The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night will take up a package of short-term rental measures alongside the public hearing on the proposed 3% citywide sales tax, which is a priority of Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. The agenda includes multiple ordinances and memoranda that together would reshape how short-term rentals operate in Anchorage and potentially ask voters to approve a new tax on those rentals, and a vote by the body of 12 is expected.
One of the major items is Ordinance AO 2025-97, sponsored by Assembly Member Daniel Volland and Assembly Chair Christopher Constant, which would place a charter amendment on the April 7, 2026 municipal ballot asking voters to authorize a new 5% tax on short-term rental transactions. This is the same tax that Juneau has on short-term rentals.
If approved by voters, the tax would be added on top of the existing 12% room tax. The proposal dedicates the net revenue to housing development and related infrastructure, and it specifies that the tax would be exempt from the city’s tax-cap limitation. Under the draft language, the Assembly would be required to levy the tax no later than July 1, 2026 if the ballot measure passes.
The charter amendment includes new definitions for residential units and short-term rentals, setting the 30-day threshold that distinguishes short-term rentals from longer-term housing. The text also amends portions of the Home Rule Charter dealing with sales tax immunity and tax-cap calculations, making clear that this tax would require a simple majority from voters rather than the three-fifths threshold normally required for a sales tax.
A separate set of ordinances — AO 2025-115 and its revised versions AO 2025-115(S) and AO 2025-115(S-1) — would overhaul the city’s regulatory framework for short-term rentals.
Sponsored by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and Assembly Members Erin Baldwin Day, Zac Johnson, and Daniel Volland, these measures would create a registration requirement for all short-term rental owners, require hosting platforms to comply with additional tax-reporting rules, and explicitly allow short-term rentals in all residential zoning districts and in certain commercial districts.
The latest version, AO 2025-115(S-1), further expands the allowed uses to include hotels, motels, extended-stay lodgings, hostels, and inns within residential zones. All versions remove bed-and-breakfasts as a separate land-use category and waive Planning and Zoning Commission review.
The Assembly package is accompanied by several memoranda and information items, including AM 757-2025, AM 837-2025, AM 838-2025, and AIM 229-2025. Public comment on the short-term rental ordinances has been open since October.
The proposed 5% tax follows years of debate over the impact of short-term rentals on Anchorage’s tight housing market. In 2024, the Assembly passed a regulatory package requiring licenses, insurance, and compliance with land-use, fire, and health codes, but that ordinance was vetoed by the mayor at the time and no override vote occurred. The current proposal revives many of those concepts while adding a tax mechanism aimed at generating revenue for housing development.
Assembly members and the mayor argue that Anchorage has been significantly affected by the growth of short-term rentals, mirroring trends in other cities where entire neighborhoods have seen long-term housing diverted to vacation rentals.
Under the proposed charter amendment, hosting platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO would be responsible for collecting both the existing 12% room tax and the new 5% tax, even though some platforms have historically refused to share individual operator data, citing proprietary concerns. The Assembly states in the ordinance that it intends to rely on the existing platform-based system to administer the tax.
If voters approve the charter amendment in April 2026, the provisions would take effect 30 days after the election is certified. The Assembly would then be required to introduce implementing ordinances within 45 days of the levy deadline, including designating a fund where all tax receipts would be deposited and permanently restricted for housing-related uses.
Among the areas most impacted would be Girdwood, where about 25% of the housing is vacation rentals. It’s unlikely that the 5% additional tax would be directed toward alleviating housing issues in Girdwood, however. Thus the property owners would be paying a tax but getting no benefit.
Anchorage raises about $5.5 million from the existing 12% bed tax from short-term rentals such as Airbnb. Adding 5% would raise roughly $2.25 million a year, a drop in the bucket when it comes to building costs.
“Even using conservative estimates, $2–2.5 million might build just four to five homes. Is that enough to make a real difference in housing affordability?” asks The Alaska Policy Forum.
The Assembly will meet at 5 pm Tuesday in the Assembly chambers on the ground floor of the Loussac Library, which is located on the corner of 36th Ave. and Denali Street.
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Anchorage does not have a revenue problem – it has a spending problem. And coddling vagrants is a large part of the problem.
These guys are either going to tax the poor and middle class out to the streets or out of town which if they do stay in Alaska, the more redder areas (though those places are going blue) will be inundated by new residents who don’t vote, if they do vote they vote with emotions, or they are non political: which puts all more stress on the communities that leaned to smaller government and lower taxes
The mayor and assembly, like disgraced mayor Berkowitz, never met a tax they didn’t like. These new taxes punish us for being Anchorage residents and are only the tip of the iceberg. Remember the alcohol tax that was supposed to be used for, well, what? You can contact the assembly via email: assembly@anchorageak.gov
They are taxing Andy taking money from the individual owner/taxpayer.
The Sales Tax proposal does the same. It takes money from everyone and the resulting Property Tax ‘Relief’ will go in large part to corporations and multinationals that own big expensive properties.
Hilton, Best Western, Hyatt, Walmart, Kroger (Fred Meyer), Albertsons (Safeway/Carrs), will be delighted that they save money and don’t have to pay as much property tax.
“adding a tax mechanism aimed at generating revenue for housing development”
Is is not true, that if you want less of something you tax it?
It’s not government’s job to build housing. Is their job to get out of the way. Facilitate roads, real education and not indoctrination, fire and police.