15 AAC 77.005. Findings, purpose, and intent

(a) The fishery resource landing tax is both designed and intended to be a compensatory tax to complement the fisheries business tax under AS 43.75. The landing tax is intended to compensate the state for the burdens that the fish catcher/processors operating in the Exclusive Economic Zone ("EEZ") imposes upon the state and local communities, as well as for the benefits the EEZ catcher/processors receive from the state and local communities.

(b) The state has various research, management, and enforcement responsibilities in connection with the offshore fisheries. The EEZ catcher/processors have a significant presence in the state, including transferring of the processed fisheries resource product, taking on and disembarking of crew, taking on of fuel and supplies, obtaining repairs, discharging waste, and making use of sheltered waters. Additional burdens resulting from the fleet presence impact the state and local communities through increased demands on educational systems, road maintenance, public safety, airports, docks, hospitals, and other programs provided or financed by the state or local communities.

(c) Fisheries businesses operating in the state pay for benefits and burdens described in (b) of this section through the fisheries business tax which applies to fisheries resources harvested or processed in the state. The landing tax is a substantially equivalent levy designed to impose a comparable burden on interstate commerce. The EEZ catcher/processors are conducting fisheries businesses in the state to no less a degree than in-state operators, subject to the fisheries business tax. The landing tax is not a fee on fisheries resources simply moving through the state. Instead the landing tax is a payment for the services and benefits conferred upon this segment of the industry under which they pay their own way. The landing tax achieves an equality of treatment between local and interstate commerce conducting fisheries businesses in the state.

History: Eff. 4/20/94, Register 130

Authority: AS 43.77.010

AS 43.77.070

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