Jon Iversen: The Alaska Legislature’s Push-Pull on Taxes

In his most recent column for State Tax Notes, Jonathan Iversen discusses several tax-related bills that were introduced during the most recent Alaska legislative session, which ended on May 17. Iversen notes that “…after the Alaska Department of Revenue released its Spring 2023 Revenue Forecast in March, the level of activity around tax legislation seemed to accelerate dramatically, albeit in various and often countervailing directions.”

Among the bills Iversen outlines are:

• S.B. 114: Would impose a new income tax on a “qualified entity”—a partnership, sole proprietorship, or S corporation—and increase the oil and gas production tax.
• H.B. 84 and S.B. 77: Would allow municipalities to fully exempt economic development properties from property taxes and to levy a tax on blighted properties of up to 50% of the property’s assessed value.
• H.B. 142: Would impose a 2% tax on all sales of goods and services purchased in Alaska and would allow the legislature to share half of the tax revenue with municipalities that meet certain criteria.
• H.B. 109: Would reduce corporate tax brackets from nine to one, leaving a single tax rate under which corporations with taxable income over $25,000 would be taxed at a flat 2% rate.

Iversen concludes, “…several of the tax bills introduced by the legislature will be carried over for discussion in the second regular session. Also, toward the end of the regular session, Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) announced that his administration could introduce sales tax legislation. Although it was never introduced, the specter has been raised of a special session sometime this fall. Stay tuned.”