(SitNews) Ketchikan, Alaska - Ketchikan Borough Manager Dan Bockhorst advised the Borough Assembly members yesterday that the Borough filed a motion Monday afternoon in Superior Court seeking a preliminary injunction against Seamus Brodie d/b/a The Alaska Gem Store, LLC; and The Ketchikan Gem Museum, LLC., both seasonal tourist related businesses operated only during the summer months. 

The Borough's motion to the Court seeks to prohibit Brodie from operating a business in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough until such time as Brodie has filed all delinquent sales tax returns and paid the taxes, penalties, interest costs, fines and attorney's fees due in association with those returns.

According to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Brodie's current business, The Alaska Gem Store is deliquent 8 quarters (24 months) with the estimated amount of sales tax due $18,846.74. A previous business, The Ketchikan Gem Museum is deliquent 2 quarters (6 months) with the estimated amount of sales tax due $8,076.54. The Ketchikan Gem Museum operated from May 2010 to May 2011.

Brodie is currently the owner and operator of The Alaska Gem Store, LLC., which was formed on January 1, 2011. Located on Main Street, The Alaska Gem Store has been in operation since May 2011.

The Ketchikan Borough stated in a 15-page “Memorandum in Support of Motion for Preliminary Injunction” presented to the Court, Brodie has continually avoided filing sales tax returns and paying the sales taxes due for the past three years.

The Borough alleges that Brodie's repeated and willful failures to file sales tax returns and pay sales tax demonstrate that he is likely to continue operating his business in violation of the Borough sales tax code unless he is legally restrained from doing so.

Brodie was served with notice that the Borough intended to seek an injunction. The Borough said since the notice, Brodie has neither filed nor remitted payments due to the Borough in the intervening time. Because Brodie continues to willfully violate Borough code and evade his tax responsibilities, the Ketchikan Borough requested the Court to issue an injunction again Brodie and his business organizations to prohibit him from operating a business in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough until he has filed and paid the amounts due.

The Borough is asking the Court to act quickly due to very real and serious concerns about their ability to collect future taxes from Brodie’s business, if it is allowed to continue operations. Expedited consideration for a Court hearing was requested while Brodie is still in Ketchikan. The Borough said in their request, any additional delay will make it likely that Brodie will again leave Alaska for the winter, which will further frustrate their attempts to collect sales taxes due from his business which operates during the summer season.

There are approximately 2,500 businesses registered to collect sales taxes within the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. According to the Borough, currently, 94% of those businesses comply with the applicable sales tax ordinances of the City of Ketchikan and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.

On the Web:

Current list of businesses that, according to Borough records, are not in compliance with Borough Sales Tax Ordinances
http://www.borough.ketchikan.ak.us/finance/documents
/DelinquentPublicationListingMar2013MReport.pdf

Source of News: 

Ketchikan Gateway Borough
www.borough.ketchikan.ak.us

 

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