What do residents and tourists think of Juneau’s proposed seasonal sales tax this election?

Voters will decide this fall whether to adopt a seasonal sales tax to make the most of the more than a million cruise ship passengers who visit Juneau each summer.

Some residents are wary of the idea.

It was a rainy September day on Thursday, but the wet sidewalks and streets were still lined with cruise ship passengers donning thin plastic ponchos and holding shopping bags.

Mickey Hall and her friends, Russ and Pat Genzmer, stood outside the Alaska Shirt Company in downtown Juneau. They were all holding the store’s iconic, bright red shopping bags.

“I got a sweatshirt, and my grandson got socks,” Hall said, laughing.

They were in Juneau for the day, visiting off the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship. Without looking at their receipts, they couldn’t say how much they paid in local sales t