Rep. Sam Kito III, D-Juneau, has proposed a new state tax on lobbyists.
The tax would hit close to home: Kito’s father, Sam Kito Jr., is a lobbyist.
According to records of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, Kito Jr. has contracts worth more than $130,000 combined in 2017 with the North Slope Borough, Alaska Cruise Association, Alaska Travel Industry Association, GCI, Icy Strait Point, and pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly.
Rep. Kito’s bill levies “a tax of 2.5 percent of the person’s income earned from lobbying activities conducted … during the preceding calendar year.”
The tax does not apply to volunteer lobbyists (who go unpaid) or “representational lobbyists,” people who are repaid for their travel to Juneau but aren’t otherwise paid.
Kito’s bill, House Bill 91, has been assigned to the House State Affairs Committee. No hearings have yet been scheduled.
