JUNEAU, Alaska, Dec. 11, 2015—Two days after Gov. Bill Walker called for the biggest changes in Alaska’s tax system in 35 years, the representative association for the state’s small businesses today released the results from its annual survey of its members.
“All of us appreciate and sympathize with the enormous task the governor has with balancing the state’s books,” said Denny DeWitt, Alaska state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “What our ballot results hope to do is contribute to the debate by offering the opinions of those most affected by the final decision: The small-business owners of Alaska, who, unlike big companies and corporations, cannot absorb and spread increased costs over a wide pool of customers and clients. NFIB members fail to see how the proposal to move $200 million out of the private sector through a personal income tax in order to prop up state spending protects or enhances the viability of Alaska’s fragile economy. Rather than expanding economic activity, it appears only to give government more control over an individual’s personal resources.”
Every year the National Federation of Independent Business, America’s largest and leading small-business association, polls its members on state and national issues vital to their ability to own, operate and grow their enterprises. Results from the polls center NFIB’s lobbying positions in Washington, D.C. and in Juneau. NFIB has 350,000 dues-paying members nationwide, including 2,000 in Alaska. Results from the NFIB-member ballots are released after a statistically valid sample is reached. The 2016 ballot asked five questions:
Should Alaska reinstitute a personal income tax?
Yes—19 percent
No—74 percent
Und.—7 percent
Should Alaska establish a statewide sales tax?
Yes—20 percent
No—60 percent
Und.—20 percent
Should Alaska use investment earnings of the Permanent Fund to fund state government?
Yes—44 percent
No—47 percent
Und.—9 percent
Should Alaska’s Wage Hour Act be amended to require the defendant’s burden of proof in overtime and minimum wage issues to the “preponderance of evidence” standard rather than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard?
Yes—55 percent
No—12 percent
Und.—33 percent
Should employers be prohibited from considering an applicant’s criminal history until the interview process has concluded?
Yes—5 percent
No—92 percent
Und.—3 percent
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For more than 70 years, the National Federation of Independent Business has been the Voice of Small Business, taking the message from Main Street to the halls of Congress and all 50 state legislatures. NFIB annually surveys its members on state and federal issues vital to their survival as America’s economic engine and biggest creator of jobs. NFIB’s educational mission is to remind policymakers that small businesses are not smaller versions of bigger businesses; they have very different challenges and priorities.
National Federation of Independent Business/Alaska
P.O. Box 34761
Juneau, AK 99801
907-723-6667
