Last Updated on February 25, 2025 by Mrunal & Jiten
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (KTUU) – Ketchikan looks at becoming another port community to lift a tax exemption from cruise ships.
The change would allow Ketchikan to tax goods sold on cruise ships in port. These goods are transported into the borough on a cruise ship — which does not leave the boat — where the entire transaction, payment, and delivery, take place onboard the ship.
Ketchikan Gateway Borough Mayor Rodney Dial told Alaska’s News Source this repeal on the exception is about equity between the shops and the cruise ships.
“One of the reasons that the Ketchikan City and the Borough are working to repeal it now is just simply it’s an equity issue that’s existed for a while, kind of started back when cruise ships were just getting started and kind of needed to support the industry. Now it’s more about fairness. We want fairness between what the cruise ships are charging and what the brick and mortars are charging,” Dial said.
The Ketchikan community is one of the last major southeast areas in Alaska to eliminate this specific exemption. The City and Borough of Juneau made a similar move in 2022, and the Municipality recently adopted its sales tax code in December.
According to the supplemental financial impact information, the borough believes that this change will bring in an extra $200,000 to $300,000 a year to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.
“Beyond that, it just puts our businesses on a level playing field with the cruise line,” Dial said.
The Ketchikan City Council approved the change at their regular meeting Thursday evening.
A public hearing and final vote is scheduled for Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the Ketchikan Gateway Borough’s regular meeting.
If approved, the new law will take effect before the 2025 cruise ship season takes place. According to the Borough, the first cruise ship to arrive in Ketchikan is scheduled for April 17.
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