The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly passed an ordinance that would amend the Uniform Remote Seller Sales Tax Code. Doing so would keep the Borough in accordance with updates and changes adopted by the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission. Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, the borough joined with other municipalities across the state to enter into an agreement to combat the inability to effectively collect sales tax and online retail sales that would otherwise be subject to borough and city sales tax.
The Borough enacted Ordinance 2020-03, which determined that the inability to effectively collect sales tax on sales of personal property, products or services transferred or delivered into the state by sellers who are recognized as remote sellers was eroding the sales tax base of communities and resulting in revenue losses that are causing imminent harm to residents through the loss of critical funding for local education.
Assemblyman Tyson Cox, “What this is is this is mostly a housekeeping ordinance. It is to put us in line with the commission but also to put us more in line with our brick and mortar section of code that talks about a sales tax and that is 5.18. that will put both those items in line and then it will also put us more in line with the commission.”
After a recent review of the Uniform Remote Seller Sales Tax Code at their February 24, 2021 meeting, the Alaska Remote Sellers Sales Tax Commission unanimously approved updates to the code aimed to improve code inconsistencies and administrative processes. A review by the Borough’s finance and legal departments revealed that the changes will not substantively or negatively impact remote sellers or residents in the borough who purchase products, goods, or services online.
Ordinance 2021-12 was unanimously enacted.