1:00

Michael Bowles

203:10 - 204:11

"what your ordinance does is it masks tax, the raising of our taxes with a $75,000 tax exemption, and knowing that a future assembly can come in here and raise the levy to 10, knowing that a future assembly can always remove that 10 mill rate cap and raise it to God knows what in the future."

what your ordinance does is it masks tax, the raising of our taxes with a $75,000 tax exemption, and knowing that a future assembly can come in here and raise the levy to 10, knowing that a future assembly can always remove that 10 mill rate cap and raise it to God knows what in the future.
Speaker
Michael Bowles
Community
Alaska News
Location
Mat-Su Borough
Captured at
May 20, 2026

From the transcript

So what, what your ordinance does is it masks tax, the raising of our taxes with a $75,000 tax exemption, and knowing that a future assembly can come in here and raise the levy to 10, knowing that a future assembly can always remove that 10 mill rate cap and raise it to God knows what in the future. So, um, to say that this is an attempt to come up with a solution based off off of my request for comments from the public on how to lower taxes, I think is disingenuous. I think it's inaccurate, and I think that it's an attempt to try to get my ballot covered up— or excuse me, my ballot measure covered up on the November election ballot. There is high amount of appetite to remove the area-wide property taxes and bring in a sales tax. If I had it my way, we wouldn't bring in a sales tax, but that's just not— that's, that's just not realistic.

Related Coverage

Assembly transfers nine riverfront parcels to state for erosion control

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly unanimously approved transferring nine borough-owned parcels along the Matanuska River to the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities to enable faster erosion protection construction and more flexible emergency response.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min readAI
Mat-Su Borough
Cover image for article: Assembly transfers nine riverfront parcels to state for erosion control

Mat-Su Assembly blocks sales tax proposal before public hearing

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly voted 6-3 Wednesday to remove a sales tax proposal from the agenda before it could reach public hearing, sparking debate over process and whether members should allow public discussion of competing tax reform ideas.

Walter AlaskaNewsby Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min readAI
Mat-Su Borough
Cover image for article: Mat-Su Assembly blocks sales tax proposal before public hearing