What is the tax burden on the typical Alaskan household?
The state taxes that fall on households are tobacco, alcohol, motor fuels, and insurance policy taxes, although a portion of these are paid by businesses and nonresident tourists and workers. Summing these tax revenues in FY 2001 of $132.1 million (Alaska Department of Revenue, Revenue Sources, Spring 2002) and dividing by the 2001 population of 634,892 (Alaska Department of Labor) yields a per capita tax bite of $208. Local governments impose property, sales, and other types of taxes (like hotel taxes and fish taxes). According to the Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development (Alaska Taxable 2001), the statewide average per capita local tax revenue (excluding the North Slope Borough where most petroleum property is located) was $996. It was higher in places with taxable petroleum property, lots of tourists, and lots of fish; it was lower in places with little or no business-related tax base. The combined state and local tax bite on the average Alaskan in 2001 was $1204as
