{"id":432,"date":"2026-06-17T19:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=432"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:09:06","slug":"mat-su-assembly-rejects-3-tax-proposals-but-a-new-one-may-be-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=432","title":{"rendered":"Mat-Su Assembly rejects 3 tax proposals, but a new one may be coming"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Matanuska-Susitna Borough voters will not see a new trio of tax proposals on the ballot in November after the Assembly rejected the measures during a meeting Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Read more Shootout with police at South Anchorage Walmart leaves man dead and officer injured, police chief says<\/a><\/p>\n

A proposed 5% tax on all alcohol sales in Mat-Su, approved for the ballot earlier this month, will still appear before voters.<\/p>\n

The rejected tax proposals included a 1.5% sales tax outside Palmer, Wasilla, and Houston paired with a new $75,000 exemption on some residential properties; a 6.5% sales tax across Mat-Su that would be added to current city taxes and paired with the repeal of one of Mat-Su’s five property taxes; and a 25-cent-per-ton tax on gravel extracted by the region’s largest pit operations.<\/p>\n

Assembly member Michael Bowles proposed a 6.5% sales tax and partial property tax repeal. Assembly member Stephanie Nowers proposed a 1.5% sales tax with a $75,000 exemption and a gravel tax. Bowles represents District 1, which includes Butte. Nowers represents District 2, which includes Palmer.<\/p>\n

The gravel and 1.5% sales tax measures were postponed indefinitely in votes of 3-4 and 4-3, respectively, a step that effectively kills the proposals.<\/p>\n

Assembly members Ron Bernier, Dee McKee, and Nowers voted against postponing the gravel tax. Assembly members Dmitri Fonov, Bill Gamble, and Bernier voted against postponing the sales tax.<\/p>\n

The 6.5% sales tax proposal was rejected 4-3, with Bernier, Bowles and Gamble voting in support.<\/p>\n

If approved, the measures would have appeared on Mat-Su ballots during the regular election scheduled for November.<\/p>\n

Bowles said he proposed the 6.5% sales tax paired with a repeal of about 60% of the region\u2019s average property taxes as a way to reduce annual costs for property owners and shift some of the burden of funding government services to shoppers.<\/p>\n

He said the measure could also force the borough to reduce its annual budget because the sales tax would likely generate less revenue than the borough currently spends. Such a measure could also bring in more revenue than estimated, he said.<\/p>\n

The proposal could create a $20 million shortfall compared with the current budget, according to borough estimates.<\/p>\n

Bowles said the proposal is a risk that could trigger positive change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis change, it\u2019s scary \u2014 big change is scary,\u201d he said. \u201cBut unless you take chances, you never find out if you\u2019re really doing something that\u2019s great, that\u2019s going to help the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Crude oil surfaced at historic Treadwell Mine in Juneau. The state plans to study it.<\/a><\/p>\n

Assembly member Maxwell Sumner said he also wants to lower taxes but does not support making cuts based on guesswork without evidence showing what level of shortfall the proposal would ultimately create. He said he also researched proposing a sales tax to replace property taxes but decided against it because of the negative impact it could have on the community, including businesses and jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just went through the budget cycle. We didn’t cut $20 million off the budget \u2014 but now you’re proposing to cut $20 million off of revenue. I mean, that’s bonkers to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it’s incredibly irresponsible to try and run a government on \u2018I hope’ and \u2018I wish,’ and that’s what you’re saying right now \u2014 that \u2018I hope we’re going to make more money than the math says,’ and \u2018I wish that we had a lower sales tax rate that replaced areawide.’ That’s not reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowers said she proposed the gravel tax and 1.5% sales tax as a way to reduce the borough’s reliance on property taxes to cover costs, including road maintenance and school funding.<\/p>\n

A sales tax paired with a new exemption would shift some of those costs from property owners to visitors who shop at the region’s stores, she said. Adding a gravel tax would also diversify the tax base, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m looking at it for how we can most benefit people who live here and get people who come and visit to help pay the cost of the services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bernier said he supports taxing gravel sold from Mat-Su to Anchorage but does not want to risk hurting small operators.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all means, any gravel heading to Anchorage, I want to see taxed. You\u2019ve got my support on that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don’t want to mess with the mom-and-pops or digging in people’s back pockets and look in their underwear and stuff, just trying to dig \u2013 this is just kind of invasive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The measures voted down Tuesday may not be the last tax proposals considered for the ballot this year.<\/p>\n

Bernier said he plans to propose a 3% areawide sales tax paired with an areawide property tax cap of 4 mills, or $400 per $100,000 of assessed value. The areawide property tax mill rate for 2027 is 7.955 mills, or about $796 per $100,000 of assessed value.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all tried to come up with some answers as far as alleviating property tax,\u201d Bernier said during the meeting. \u201cI think the more you give them a choice on the ballot, then maybe we’ll actually come up with an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deadline for the Assembly to approve propositions for the November ballot is August 28.<\/p>\n

Read more Alaska\u2019s Murkowski among Congress members seeking to save ocean science network<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The measures included a 1.5% sales tax, a 6.5% sales tax and a tax on gravel pit operators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMat-Su Assembly rejects 3 tax proposals, but a new one may be coming - Alaska Moving Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=432\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mat-Su Assembly rejects 3 tax proposals, but a new one may be coming - Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The measures included a 1.5% sales tax, a 6.5% sales tax and a tax on gravel pit operators.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=432\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Alaska Moving Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T19:09:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e09896005b88414084eb4bd3215ab0a\"},\"headline\":\"Mat-Su Assembly rejects 3 tax proposals, but a new one may be coming\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T19:09:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432\"},\"wordCount\":891,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/4b7a58611fceceb80f400720ab10190d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\\\/?p=432\",\"name\":\"Mat-Su Assembly rejects 3 tax proposals, but a new one may be coming - 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