If the assembly wants to make sales tax changes that benefit borough coffers and people's bank accounts, the solution is simple: put a sales tax rate increase on the ballot and exempt groceries upon passage.

Most U.S citizens don't pay sales taxes on groceries. Of the 45 U.S. states with a sales tax, only 13 impose the tax on home food, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and most of those states tax groceries at a lower rate or offer a tax credit.

Sales tax is regressive. It hits low-income people harder. The lowest 20% of earners spend twice as much of their income on groceries than the highest 20%, according to a recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey. But factor in Haines' high cost of groceries, already much higher than in non-sales tax cities Anchorage and Fairbanks, and many residents are paying a much larger portion of their already strapped budget for a basic need.

The average U.S. family of four spends $149 per week on groceries, according to an Alaska Economic Trends report. In Haines, it's $262. That Haines family would save nearly $800 a year if their groceries were exempt from sales tax.

One argument for the seasonal tax is that we give a break to winter residents and raise the rate in the summer to capture a few more bucks from tourists, but let's not kid ourselves: locals will pay a lot of that higher tax. Go to Haines Home or Lutak Lumber on a Saturday morning in May versus February to see the lumber, tools, flowers and gardening supplies carted away by the truckload by local sales tax-paying residents.

The solution is simple. We can capture those tourist dollars with a modest sales tax increase while exempting groceries. Estimate what the borough would lose as a result of a food exemption and adjust the sales tax accordingly. Many assembly members often talk about the need to make it easier to live in Haines. At a time when income inequality is widening in this country to levels not seen since before the Great Depression, a tax exemption on a basic necessity of life is a no brainer.

-Kyle Clayton, Editor