The Daily Alaska Empire

Behind the Scenes
(Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Territory agrees that Alaska needs
a constructive tax program. Now that another Legislative
Session has come and gone without the enactment
of such a law, the question again comes to mind.
"Who is responsible for this failure?"

Some would answer, "the fish interests." That
certainly is not true for as it now stands every time
there is a deficiency, a new tax is slapped on the fishing
industry. Naturally, they would welcome a Territory-wide
tax program that would lift some of the
pressure and burden from the salmon industry.

Some would answer, "our Legislators." Again,
we feel that is not the correct answer. Four years ago,
the majority of our Legislators went to Juneau realizing
that a tax program must be worked out for the
Territory. Some favored a property tax . . . others a
sales tax . . . with probably the majority favoring the
less painless but more equitable net income tax. But
when the Legislators reached Juneau, they found that
the Governor had a tax program of his own and that
they must pass his program . . . or else.

And if you think he didn't mean "or else," witness
his veto of the Consolidated School District Bill
two years ago, after it had passed by an overwhelming
majority in both Houses, and all because the tax provision
in the bill wasn't written exactly the way the
Governor wanted it.

During the last session, a net gold tax law was
passed to replace the gross gold tax. The new law
was designed to help the small miner, to encourage
new mining development and to increase the overall
revenue to the Territory. But the Governor vetoed
it with a very fancy nine-page brief. Evidently, however,
the Legislature thought that the refusal of the
Senate to pass the Governor's Income Tax Bill was
the underlying reason for the veto, and, for the first
time in Territorial history, they overrode the veto,
thereby taking care of one of the Governor's "or elses."

Alaskans are rugged individualists and over a
period of years have done a creditable job of running
the Territory, and they won't be pushed around or told
they must do thus and so. And this brings us, in the
opinion of people who have watched the Juneau legislative
game for many years, to the answer of why
Alaska today hasn't an adequate and equitable tax
system:

Because Governor Gruening has tried to dictate
and control the Legislative branch of our Territorial
Government as well as the Administrative branch.