Juneau will need federal and state action to take the burden off the property tax and keep the economy healthy, Flanders said. He also envisions broadening the municipal sales tax and establishing a state income tax, under which the current permanent fund dividend would be the standard deduction, with a refund check when the dividend amount exceeds the tax liability. We should set it up so that the average person breaks even. Calvin said independent visitor traffic will increase much more rapidly than cruise ship passengers. While there are up to 150,000 independent visitors a year now, with about 600,000 walking off the big ships, those groups could be of similar size in 25 years, he said.
Tourism is really our only growing industry.
Even Cruise Control, a new advocacy group born of frustration over flightseeing noise and visitor-generated congestion, isn't projecting a decrease in tourism. Co-founder Mala Reges said she's more concerned about the way the industry performs, rather than its absolute numbers, and she expects cruise ship traffic to increase by 2025, along with some growth in Juneau's population. It will be more than watching a whale. It will be a course dealing with marine biology. . . . We are on the verge of it.