Kenai Peninsula Borough v. Arndt

OPINION

BRYNER, Justice.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough sued to collect a full year’s tax on the assessed value of a locally-harbored vessel. The borough had charged the tax to the registered owner of the vessel as of its assessment date — the first day of the tax year — but the owner sold the vessel several months after assessment and refused to pay. The superior court ruled that the Federal Constitution’s Due Process and Commerce Clauses required reduction of the .tax to reflect the vessel’s post-assessment sale and its departure from borough waters. We reverse, holding that the vessel’s tax…