One of the founding ideals of the republic of several states that We know as the United States of America is that We The People shall not be taxed without representation and consent. The issues surrounding the taxation of colonists led to such famous events as the ‘Boston Tea Party’ on December 16, 1773. There have also been tax protests in modern times but most have failed because there is a segment of the US population that firmly believes that they are owed a portion of the earnings and perceived value of property of others. Time and time again the courts have ruled in favor of these taxes… most of the time those rulings are validation of existing code that prescribes taxes.
However, in the City of Dillingham there is NO valid code that authorizes any taxation. This is pure fact as attested to by former government employees in the attached documents. The State of Alaska law states clearly that any taxation must be approved by a public referendum. There has never been a public vote on the current tax structure used by the City of Dillingham and all taxes enacted since July 1, 1977 are illegal. Below is a copy of a fact sheet submitted by a former City of Dillingham resident concerning the issue. The key facts are #2 #4 which is also sworn to by affidavit of a City employee.
In fact, the City of Dillingham’s own Attorney in 1994 warned the municipality that the Voters had never ratified any tax regime and that any changes to the in-place taxation scheme would likely create a problem. This problem did in-fact arise sometime later as the City of Dillingham chose to pursue through the courts several property owners that had not submitted the illegal tax payments. However, the Judge in those cases was the former City Attorney and in a CYA move, ruled to toss out the evidence that clearly showed that the taxation scheme being used by the City of Dillingham was illegal.
The point of this post is to fully inform other residents and property owners of these facts so that they may act to rectify the situation. If in fact people believe that they are owed some portion of another person’s income and/or property value, then it must be done so in accordance with the laws of the State of Alaska. The City of Dillingham Council must immediately suspend all collection of taxes and then submit to the voters a fair and non-progressive taxation schedule. This is the only correct way to fix an issue that should have never come about in the first place.
I will be submitting a slightly modified version of this in the form of a letter to the Mayor, City Council, City Manager and heads of the BBs. I have raised this issue with the Mayor and Council in writing before with absolutely no response from anyone. So in saying that, I may also seek assistance in getting this published in the ‘regional’ newspaper so as to expand the audience and raise the issue to a higher level of concern for those that are not aware of these facts.
Attached:
PDF https://docdro.id/LVhgkgu
with Affidavit and Attorney letters explaining the absence of any valid code regarding taxation in Dillingham, Alaska
Links to my blog posts related to taxation:
Please note that not all links in the blog posts are valid because I was completely removed from facebook and any posts by me (and on any facebook pages) have been deleted by facebook.
https://jonrcorbett.blogspot.com/2018/01/no-thanks-for-reminder.html
https://jonrcorbett.blogspot.com/search/label/taxes
