Posted by Angela Denning | Dec 18, 2020
The Petersburg Borough’s sales tax revenue is down nine percent from last year. (Image courtesy of Jody Tow)
The Petersburg Borough has lost sales tax revenue this year due to the pandemic like many other municipalities across Alaska. As Angela Denning reports, a new program that collects sales tax from online vendors is helping to make up some of the difference.
Ideally, every community would see small increases in sales tax to meet inflation. But that didn’t happen this year. The Petersburg Borough is down nine percent in sales tax revenue as of mid-December. A nine percent loss equals about $242,000. It might not sound like a lot but for a small town, it is.
The city of Kodiak has seen a decrease in income from sales tax collected from local businesses due to pandemic-related restrictions. However, it remains on target for tax revenue because of sales tax collected from online purchases.Â
âWe definitely see a decrease in sales tax collection as well as the hotel tax,â Finance Director Julie Liew said at a city council work session last week.Â
From July through September, the city saw a $91,271 decrease in sales and bed taxes compared to the same period in 2019. Liew said that during that same time frame this year, the city budgeted $3.62 million for sales tax collection, the cityâs primary source of income. From July through September, the city collected $3.64 million, which includes online sales taxes.Â