Brett Huber: City Hall talks affordability but plots a 3% tax on everything you buy

By BRETT HUBER

Anchorage leaders love to talk about affordability. They hold listening sessions. They lament the cost of living. They wring their hands about why people are leaving the city.

But when it comes time to make the decisions that actually affect our wallets, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance and the Anchorage Assembly majority are marching in the opposite direction.

Last week, about 30 Anchorage residents did something extraordinary: They showed up.

On a Tuesday night, long after most Alaskans are home helping kids with homework or getting ready for an early shift, they waited, five hours in some cases, to testify on the Assembly’s latest effort to impose a 3% sales tax. These weren’t the usual civic regulars. Many had never taken a seat in the Assembly Chambers before. We haven’t seen this kind of community engagement since the Berkowitz Covid lockdowns.

For those who attended, it was an eye-opener. Because what they discovered, unfortunately, is how dismissive the Assembly leadership can be toward residents. The chair was curt, impatient and at times downright rude, an experience many of us recognize as his usual modus operandi, but these first-time testifiers had no idea what they were walking into. They came in good faith. They left knowing exactly how little their voices matter to the current majority.

And make no mistake: The outcome is already choreographed. The Assembly has set another hearing for Jan. 13, and then it will vote. The votes are lined up. The mayor is on board. The 3% sales tax will be placed on the April ballot. From January through March, you can expect a full-court press from the city telling voters that Anchorage will magically become more affordable if they’ll just hand over one more slice of their paycheck.

We’ve seen this script before.

First, it was the alcohol tax, sold to voters as a targeted, limited-purpose revenue stream for public safety and homelessness services. Then came the car rental tax and other nickel-and-dime levies. Those were the “starter pack” taxes, the entry-level version of what city leaders really want: a broad-based tax on everyone, every day, on almost everything they buy.

Now they’re setting the main course.

Anchorage is already operating with the largest budget in its history, over $657 million this fiscal year. And that’s not counting the ever-growing stack of bonds the Assembly sends to voters each election cycle. Those bonds bring with them long-term maintenance obligations that fall outside the tax cap, meaning the bills keep coming long after voters forget what they approved.

This comes down to local government extracting more money from the people who can least afford it. A 3% sales tax hits families, working-class residents and people on fixed incomes. It hits those already choosing between groceries, heating oil and housing. It is regressive by design.

And for what? Not to reduce property taxes. They’ve made no binding commitment to that. Not to shrink government spending. That’s not even on the table. This is simply a way to grow city government even larger, while telling taxpayers they should feel grateful for the privilege.

Anchorage voters should not be complacent. The Assembly is counting on exactly that — complacency. They believe residents are too busy, too tired or too discouraged to push back. But those 30 people who waited hours to testify proved something important: Anchorage is actually paying attention.

This spring, voters will most likely decide whether they want to reward a city government that continually asks for more while delivering less, always reaching deeper into residents’ pockets.

A 3% sales tax is not a path to prosperity, and unless voters stand up again on Jan. 13, the Assembly will keep building on the taxes it has already created.

Anchorage taxpayers should start getting ready for April. Right about the time you’re paying 15% of your income to the federal government, your “betters” at the Anchorage Assembly are going to try to skim another 3% from you. The fight for your pocketbook has already begun.

Brett Huber is Americans for Prosperity-Alaska’s state director and longtime Alaskan.