Legislators cut cruise ship passenger head tax

With passage of Senate Bill 312 last week, chances for Talkeetna to ever see portions of the state-collected cruise ship passenger head tax diminished.The new law, awaiting the governor’s signature, reduced the $46  passenger head tax to $34.50 and is repealing the regional cruise ship impact fund that was in place to fund tourism-related projects in communities impacted by the cruise ship industry like Talkeetna.

However, Talkeetna has never applied for a portion of these funds and it would take appropriations by the Alaska legislature to fund Talkeetna projects with the head tax once the new law takes effect.

The Alaska Cruise Association had fought the head tax since it was endorsed by Alaskan voters in 2006 and had filed a lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed the head tax violated the law because portions of it were spent in non-port cities. The cruise association made a deal with the state to drop their lawsuit if in turn legislators would repeal the regional cruise ship impact fund portion that made up 25 percent of the head tax.