Income tax proposal well received at Alaska Native forum

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, addresses a March 30, 2017, forum organized by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau. Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, is also pictured. Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, addresses a forum Thursday organized by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau. Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, is also pictured. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon received a warm reception Alaska Native leaders Thursday as he addressed the state’s fiscal crisis at a public forum. His Democratic majority coalition is pushing for a state income tax that targets wealthier earners to balance the budget.

“I think we as Alaskans are waking to the fact that it’s our future we’re talking about,” Edgmon told more than 100 people in Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall in Juneau. “We’re going to have to pay a little more to keep it the way we have it today.”

House Bill 115 would tax state income from year-round and seasonal workers as a way to balance the budget in two years. It also targets the wealthy by raising taxes on trusts and estates. And it would cap permanent fund dividend checks at $1,250 for two years.

Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Business Manager Myrna Gardner praised the plan. She said non-resident workers should be taxed to help fund services.

“You’re taking from the (Permanent Fund dividend check) but you’re also charging an income tax that will help alleviate our obligation, the ones that actually live here all year round,” she said.

Opponents of the plan say it would hurt Alaska’s economy. The Republican-led Senate is instead pushing for deep cuts to state spending and using dividend earnings to balance the budget. That’s the debate Edgmon says is largely driven by a geographic divide between coastal Alaska and the Railbelt.

“I think if you were to talk to a Mat-Su legislator, their constituents would tell them to cut the budget substantially before you look at any new revenues,” Edgmon said. “I’m not saying that’s right or that’s wrong but that’s very different from what my constituents tell me.”

Edgmon, a Democrat from Dillingham, earlier described how rural Alaskans are used to being taxed at a higher rate for goods and services to pay for vital services. He said cuts in those services would hurt the most in rural Alaska.

“Because in order to cut the budget means you take a chunk out of the school, you take a chunk out of anything that has anything to do with health and social services care and then you probably take a state trooper out when maybe you only have one to begin with,” he said. “And then you just start going down the line.”

Edgmon is the first House Speaker of Alaska Native descent. Sealaska regional Native corporation President Joe Nelson said the House majority has support from within the Native community.

“This year is a critical year and if there’s anything more that the Native community can do right now to push something over the hump in the next few days, before (the end of) this session or the next special session, I think we’re all ears standing by,” Nelson said.

Business groups oppose the income tax proposal. The Alaska Dispatch News reported this week that the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce has spent $40,000 for an advertising campaign that includes 30-second TV ads attacking the tax plan.

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska

Jacob Resneck is CoastAlaska's regional news director based in Juneau. CoastAlaska is our partner in Southeast Alaska. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

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