A controversial proposal to put an alcohol tax before Anchorage voters on the April ballot died before the Assembly Tuesday night. The plan was the latest proposed solution to the city’s costly issues managing chronic inebriates.
The Assembly ordinance would have put a 5.5% tax on sales in package stores, setting the money aside for housing units, beds in detox centers, and other treatment options. That rate was on the low end of estimates considered by supporters, and left out sales in bars and restaurants.
Assembly Member Ernie Hall sponsored the bill, and believes that with more problemed drinkers relying on emergency services, a local tax is the only way to proactively address growing needs. “I think for our business community, for our city as a whole,” Hall said during Assembly comments, “this is the major problem facing us now. And I see no other solution.”
For many Assembly members the bill just was not ready. It was introduced only a few weeks ago, a short window for raising support on what some see as a potential tax hike. Even the 5.5% rate was unspecified until the night of the vote. The measure needed a super-majority before it could go before voters on the ballot. And though several members support the intentions, they would prefer bringing a refined version to citizens.
“While this effort, I think, at some point might be a good tool, if you take it to the voters now and you haven’t worked with the community, you haven’t had the time to work with the community, then it’s going to fail,” said Assembly Member Jennifer Johnston. “You can’t bring it back next year.”
Many members from industry groups representing alcohol retailers and hospitality businesses sat in the audience wearing red to show their opposition to the tax, and applauded when it failed by a vote of 6-to-5. Heidi Heinrich is president of the Fairview Business Association, and does not believe it is fair to ask Anchorage residents to pay more while the state withholds funds meant to address a population coming from all over Alaska.
“We pay $40 million every year [in] alcohol tax, to the state,” Heinrich explained. “It was promised that it was going to be used for treatment, and that way we’re dealing with the state-wide problem instead of just making it just Anchorage’s issue. And that’s not how it has been spent.”
Via Alaska Public Media
image credit APEonline
