Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

When laws are adopted, they are generally understood by the people who adopted them and who are affected by them. Over time, government officials are notorious for finding ways to interpret the law to their benefit. This is especially true when it comes to taxes. “Full and true value” was probably well-understood when it was put into Alaska law. Now, clever municipalities and administrations have decided that it means something different. The house you built 20 or 30 years ago is now worth 10 times what it cost to build. Why? Because the government thinks “full & true value” means the cost to replace your house with brand new materials, built to modern building codes by a professional contractor. And because municipalities are finding it harder to raise money. They can’t raise taxes without a vote of the citizens, and those citizens are tired of everything going up in price while their income is stolen by inflation and taxes. If a municipality wants to build a public safety building, an administrative building, or a bridge to nowhere they are having difficulty. They increase the value of your property beyond what it is worth so that the government can obtain larger bonds (that you pay for) to do the things you dumb citizens wouldn’t otherwise approve of. That is exactly what is going on in Haines, Alaska, and my guess is that it is happening all over Alaska. Wake up people — the government serves you, not the other way around.