From the 2024 Half

• Legislation creating defined benefits/pensions for state employees failed to pass

• Legislation creating Oil & Gas S. Corp income tax failed

• Legislation mandating private retirement programs for small business failed

• Legislation mandating paid sick leave failed to pass

• Legislation allowing for expedited timber sales passed

• Legislation creating a lease structure for hunting guides on state public land passed

• Legislation allowing for a temporary permit for lapsed nurse license passed

 

From the 2023 Half

Stopped a Proposal for a New State Sales Tax

NFIB made its opposition to sales tax loud and clear, basing it on a strong member response to a special ballot question. Both the Legislature and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have thus far declined to entertain advancing a sale tax.

Defeated Call for a New State Income Tax

NFIB helped beat back statewide income tax proposals. The key difference between the sales tax legislation and the income tax pieces is proponents of income taxes are willing to push or advance these measures even if they are not part of a comprehensive fiscal plan. In other words, state income tax proponents will continue to work to advance income taxes on their own merits. Derailing the income tax measures was a victory for small business in Alaska.

Beat Back Attempt to Tax Earnings of S. Corporations, LLCs, and Partnerships

C Corporations in Alaska pay one of the highest corporate tax rates in the nation. S. Corporations and LLC.s are not taxed on their earnings in Alaska. During the 2023 session, legislation was filed to tax S Corps, LLCs and partnerships in the oil and gas sector at a similar rate to C. Corporations. When polled, NFIB members opposed expanding taxes to oil and gas entities that are not C. Corporations.

Slowed Change in Public Employee Retirement Benefits

On a statewide special ballot, NFIB members opposed legislation changing public employee retirement benefits from a 401k program to a defined benefits, pension-style one. Any unfunded liability created by a pension system is a constitutional obligation the state must satisfy.