More contempt

While the Anchorage Assembly is slated Tuesday night to mull whether – or, more likely, which – sales tax should be put on the April 7 ballot, at least one of its members wants another delay.KTVA reports Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel as saying: ”It’s just too fast for something which could be such a game changer for Anchorage.”Assembly Chairman Felix Rivera, a co-sponsor of one of the proposed levies, disagrees with Zaletel, saying, ”Have we vetted this enough? Is this a good question to send to the voters? My answer is yes for all of them.”There are three proposals under Assembly consideration – and “none of the above” apparently is not on the list. Each would require voters to approve a charter change to allow tax proponents a dodge the document’s requirement for a 60 percent vote to pass a sales tax.Two of the proposed taxes would deal with the rehashed 5 percent retail alcohol sales tax that was rejected by voters only nine months ago; the same proposal the Assembly wanted so badly that some of its members at the time tried to bribe the hospitality industry with longer bar hours for its support.One, proposed by Assembly members Rivera, Austin Quinn-Davidson and Forrest Dunbar, would levy a 5 percent retail tax on alcohol. It is estimated the tax would raise up to $15 million for public safety, fighting child abuse, sexual assault and substance abuse, and homelessness.The second alcohol tax proposal, offered by Assembly members Zaletel and John Weddleton, would start at 2 percent and could increase up to 5 percent, if needed. It is expected to bring in as much as $5 million in its first year for behavioral health programs, substance abuse programs and homelessness.A third tax under consideration, but getting a ho-hum reception, is a general, six-year, 3 percent sales tax offered by Chugiak-Eagle River Assemblyman Fred Dyson. It would offset property taxes and fund public safety, he says.Tuesday is the deadline for putting one of the proposed taxes on the April ballot and Zaletel is seeking to move the decision to later in the year.She is correct about one thing: The tax proposals are, indeed, being rushed. In our view, the real question is whether there should even be a sales tax proposal, not which proposal should be on the ballot.Anchorage voters in no uncertain terms repeatedly have said no, nyet, uh-uh to sales taxes eight different times over the years. They got so tired of the incessant drives for sales taxes, they even amended the charter in 1997 to ensure the levies would require a supermajority. They repeatedly have made it clear when it comes to sales taxes that 60 percent is the number – and yet Assembly members continue to return to the well, looking for a dodge around the restriction.Count us among those increasingly offended by the Assembly’s contempt for the city charter and the voters who amended it. We are left to wonder, in the stampede for a sales tax, where is the discussion about government spending? The city’s budget, after all, has skyrocketed since Mayor Ethan Berkowitz took office.It will take eight Assembly members to put a sales tax proposal on the April ballot. You should let them all know you will remember those who deign once again to show their contempt for voters and this city’s charter.Email, RSS FollowSaveEmailOne Response to More contemptMorriganJanuary 27, 2020 at 4:04 pmThis experiment should be a great test of Anchorage’s Easily Corruptible Mail-In Vote Enterprise.Corruptible? We recall how easily voters may “correct” mistakes on their mail-in ballots. Then we ask what prevents anyone, or anything, from making such “corrections” anywhere along the so-called ballot custody chain.We have no doubt city and school-district public-sector union-management teams have, or will soon have, insulated themselves from any small, fair, sustainable sales tax through the magic of “negotiated” pay increases.We do expect no native corporation will pay the tax, none among the litter of Anchorage’s non-profits will pay the tax, and local businesses will pass tax-collection costs on to Anchorage’s Very Own Deplorable Disenfranchised Contemptibles, who’ll be the only ones stuck with the tax..Bottom line is the Peoples Assembly is doing what it does best, Getting Money. If their experiment works, productive residents won’t be able to do a damned thing about it except pay the tax..And that’s all that matters, yes?