Wondering how CBJ spends your tax dollars? Now, it’s easier to find out.

The City and Borough of Juneau Finance Department is rolling out a helpful resource that allows residents to see how CBJ spends tax dollars. The program Taxpayer Receipt provides residents an estimate of how CBJ spends property and sales taxes, with a breakdown of programs and services supported by residents’ tax dollars. The goal is to improve residents’ understanding of how their taxes are being spent. By providing transparency about fiscal priorities funded by taxes, CBJ hopes to enhance public engagement during the budget process, which occurs each spring. Use Taxpayer Receipt here.

To use the resource, residents anonymously answer questions regarding age, annual income, whether they own a home, and the home’s assessed value, if applicable. Based on this information, the tool applies an algorithm that calculates their estimated taxes paid and how they are being spent. The tool will produce a tax receipt that includes CBJ’s 5% sales tax for all residents and CBJ’s property tax rate of 10.56 mills for home owners. The receipt does not include additional taxes levied on the sale of tobacco, liquor, or marijuana, and it does not account for property taxes that are paid via rental costs. Taxpayer Receipt breaks that total tax burden down into proportional amounts for all of CBJ’s individual programs and services – police, fire, parks, recreation, libraries, etc. – that are supported by those taxes.

Juneau residents can access Taxpayer Receipt here or by going to juneau.org/budget.

For more information, contact Budget Analyst Adrien Speegle at [email protected] or 907-586-5215 ext. 4058.