On Tuesday night, Dec 2, the public gathered at the Loussac Library Assembly Chambers to discuss the Municipality of Anchorage’s proposed 3% sales tax. The Assembly did not vote on the proposal at this meeting but instead chose to extend public hearing to January 13, 2026. According to Assemblyman Christopher Constant: “The intent of the sponsors is to continue the public hearing… to allow more time for public process and conversation.”
Public hearing on Ordinance No. AO 2025-133 lasted a little over 1 hour with each person receiving a maximum of 3 minutes to speak. Here is a sampling of what the public testified regarding the proposed 3% sales tax:
Support for the 3% Sales Tax
Anchorage resident, who is a private property owner, small business owner, and spent 24 years in law enforcement: “I strongly support this ordinance. I strongly support the things we do for the city to run it in the right way.”
Representative from Covenant House Alaska: “We are here to speak in support of the proposed sales tax… Stabilizing childcare providers and expanding access will help young parents remain employed, support their families and avoid future homelessness.”
Anchorage resident from Fairview neighborhood: “We take care of the most homeless in Alaska. I see that all the time. I think this is a very good tax… I think this is a good way to take the burden off the people in Anchorage.”
Requests for Revision/ Clarification
Anchorage resident, who was born and raised in Anchorage and recently moved back from Nevada: “I think the public would love to know exactly why this 1, 1, 1 is needed and have good information about that so they can make a decision.”
President and CEO of Foraker, Lauri Wolf: “Alaska’s nonprofits are significant economic drivers in the municipality. We represent 11% of the municipal’s employment base and 10% of employment on average across Alaska.” Wolf asked the Assembly to revise the ordinance to exempt non-profits from the sales tax and to make the exemption process easy, online, and at no cost to non-profits.
Opposition to the 3% Sales Tax
Anchorage resident from Midtown neighborhood: “I strongly oppose this new tax. Government spending is notoriously inefficient. If you wanted to provide property tax relief, you could simply lower the property tax.”
Eagle River resident: “I’m here to speak against the proposal for 3% sales tax. The concern is not with the goals of supporting childcare, housing, public safety, or property tax reduction. These are very real needs. My concern is with the structure of the tax and the long-term damage that rigid earmarks inflict on Anchorage’s fiscal resilience… if Anchorage ever adopts a sales tax, it should strengthen our fiscal future, not reduce it. This AO does not do that. I urge you to reject this ordinance or substantially revise it before placing on the ballot.”
Former Attorney General and Candidate for Governor, Treg Taylor: “This tax proposal is bad for Anchorage. It is bad for Anchorage families… You don’t stimulate economy by taxing it. You don’t encourage families to stay in Anchorage by taxing them. The new tax reflects unwillingness by Anchorage to tighten its own fiscal belt, despite Anchorage families having to make hard decisions on their budgets every day due to increased costs for goods, services, housing, and energy.”
Senior from Service High School, testifying for the first time: “Implementing a significant new tax for the municipality of Anchorage is the wrong move at this time… Our focus for Anchorage should not be on taxation, but it should be growing the economy and the private sector for revenue.”
Anchorage resident: “What is bad about this tax? You get it started; where does it end? It’s not going to. It’s just going to keep rising and rising and rising… Clean up your wasteful spending, and once you’ve done that, then if you need tax revenue, come back with that. Put it out for general vote.”
These quotes were taken from the first 10 testimonies. Many more testimonies were given at the meeting. You can watch the full public hearing below (3:54:05-5:15:55):
Assembly Regular – December 2, 2025 – 2025-12-02 17:00:00
Drop the dam property taxes! Tax on property is theft!!! Only way I’ll support a sales tax is if property taxes are done away with!
Wow! I’m so surprised by this.
Recipients of tax money like more taxes coming from others.
TaxPAYERS don’t want to donate more to the assembly’s waste.
The people of Anchorage are controlled by a population of leftists who actually get out and vote. The majority of Anchorage residents are not concerned with their city, they refuse to get off their asses and get involved and vote. You are the reason Anchorage is in such a mess.
Politicians never saw a penny of your money that they didn’t want to seize and spend. There’s never enough no matter how much of your wealth is taken. At least a sales tax is somewhat voluntary. Don’t want to pay it? Don’t buy the product. Property taxes are far more coercive and outright theft by force.
Of course non profits want another funding source. They received millions during Covid to help the homeless? How did that work for us. We have more non profits than most states per capita. Money is often funneled through them in order to support liberal causes. Does anyone see what the gas or alcohol tax has done for the city? Of course not. Beware Anchorage little man Chris wants to leave the taxpayers with another burden. He is nothing but an angry bully! Absolutely the worst assembly chair ever!! But don’t worry I am sure he will run for house so he and Felix can take their
Incompetency state wide! Both
Taxes for for more bureaucrats, more paperwork, more perks for supervisory positions, more supervisory positions for all the new paperwork, nicer cars & trucks, gold plated pen holders… so worth it.
Two factors go into running any financial endeavor efficiently and responsibly. Revenue and expenditures.
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For a business, revenue is money collected from sales to their customers, and expenditures are leases, utilities, salaries, and materials. A poorly run business will see their expenditures exceed their revenue, and they will go bankrupt.
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A government’s revenue is from taxes. Their expenditures are (should be) public services like roads, police/fire, schools… and… that is where we see the difference.
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A poorly run business goes out of business. There is no way to force customers to use your product, and increasing prices excessively will drive customers away.
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A poorly run government just increases taxes to cover their wasteful expenditures. And, the people with the power to raise taxes are also the ones pushing the wasteful spending.
Funny how the local TV news report seems to suggest that the public was ‘all for’ being taxed! Thank you MRAK for giving us the ‘rest of the story!’
Local TV News will always report the favorable of anything this incompetent Assembly and Mayor will do. They are just as ignorant as the Muni. Don’t think this publication will be any different in the future. They are already reporting less conservative views.
Hello Steven, thank you for commenting! Must Read Alaska’s team will continue to work hard to provide the very best reporting and promote conservative views in our state. If you (or any of our readers) have suggestions on what we should write about, please email [email protected].
General rule for the ‘news’
Do not believe a single thing they say, and only believe about 25% of what they show.
Here’s a perfect example of how the media outright lies to everyone all the time:
CNN’s Jake Tapper described the suspect in the Jan 6th bomber case, Brian Cole Jr. as a ‘white man’
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MRAK is ostensibly news
Correct. The rule does not change, even if you agree with the editorial stance of the news outlet.
Detroit should be Anchorage ‘s sister City. They have so much in common.
Too funny! So many brainwashed in Anchorage. You people really think the Assembly has your best interest in mind? That tax WILL go in their pockets for their own agenda
Even if the sales taxes are dedicated to a particular program, the net result will be more wasteful spending by the Assembly. Easy accounting trick. Bring in millions to a specific program, and you just reduce the amount that program takes from the general fund. Freeing up those millions for assembly pet projects.
TOO true, CBMTTek! Perfect example: the Anchorage funds which were supposed to be used to monitor the police, were recently diverted to install cameras at Anchorage road intersections- to monitor Anchorage drivers. Undoubtedly to be able to make money off traffic tickets!
Here’s the short answer:
This will result in a tax increase, period.
The sales tax will never go away. In fact, it will be raised over time.
Property taxes will not be cut, not for very long. They will go back up, too.
Combined, more money for the Assembly to shovel into the furnace.
When have you heard a democrat give up taxes, anchorage is getting like LA , Portland and Seattle.
I listened to the assembly meeting and noticed in your report a word was left out. The third sentence of your first commenter under “Opposition” actually said, “If you wanted to provide property tax RELIEF, you could simply lower the property tax.”
Hello, thank you for commenting! Yes, you are correct. My apologies for the mistake. It is fixed.
A lot of folks are complaining about the sales tax in Anchorage, when folks in the valley and peninsula have a sales tax. Why are they complaining about their local sales tax??