Fairbanks, Alaska has no general sales tax. Neither the City of Fairbanks nor the Fairbanks North Star Borough charges one, and Alaska has no statewide sales tax either, so the price on the shelf is the price you pay for ordinary retail goods. The borough does collect targeted excise taxes on lodging, alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana, and it leans on property taxes to fund local services.
Alaska is one of five states without a statewide sales tax, but it lets cities and boroughs impose their own if voters approve.1Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development. Division of Community and Regional Affairs – Sales Tax Many communities do. Juneau charges 5%, Kodiak charges 7%, and smaller towns set their own rates. Fairbanks and the surrounding borough have never adopted one, which makes the area an outlier even within Alaska.
Watch for North Pole’s 5.5% Tax
The City of North Pole sits about 14 miles southeast of Fairbanks and charges a 5.5% local sales tax, capped at $16.50 per individual sale.2City of North Pole, Alaska. Taxes The tax applies to any transaction completed inside North Pole’s city limits, so if you drive there to shop you’ll pay it even though you live in a tax-free zone back in Fairbanks. The cap softens the hit on larger purchases above $300, but for routine shopping the difference from Fairbanks is real.
Room Tax on Short Stays
The Fairbanks North Star Borough charges an 8% room tax on short-term lodging.3Fairbanks North Star Borough. Online Room Tax Report Hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfasts collect it from guests and remit it to the borough. The tax applies to stays shorter than 30 consecutive days. Stay 30 days or longer and the rental is treated as a monthly arrangement; the room tax drops off entirely, and operators must credit back any tax already collected during the first 29 days once a guest reaches the 30-day mark.4Fairbanks North Star Borough. Room Tax Information
A few narrower exemptions exist for employer-paid rotating lodging of 90 consecutive days or more and for rent paid directly by exempt organizations through a purchase order. Employees who pay out of pocket and get reimbursed later don’t qualify.4Fairbanks North Star Borough. Room Tax Information
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Marijuana Excise Taxes
The borough levies excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana sold within its boundaries.5Fairbanks North Star Borough. Sales / Excise Tax Information These are collected from distributors and wholesalers rather than added at the register, so you won’t see a line item on your receipt, but the cost is built into the shelf price. In 2024, the borough assembly adopted Ordinance 2024-10, which amended the tobacco excise tax provisions and appears to have set the rate at 20% of wholesale price.6Fairbanks North Star Borough. Ordinance No 2024-10 For current alcohol and marijuana rates, contact the borough’s financial services office.
State taxes stack on top. Alaska charges $12.80 per gallon on distilled spirits, $2.50 per gallon on wine, and $1.07 per gallon on beer and malt beverages, with a reduced $0.35 per gallon rate on the first 60,000 barrels for small breweries.7Alaska State Legislature. Alcoholic Beverage Tax On tobacco, the state adds $2.00 per pack of 20 cigarettes and 75% of wholesale price on other tobacco products.8Alaska State Legislature. Local Level Tobacco Product Taxation Rates in Alaska On marijuana, the state charges $50 per ounce on mature flower transferred from a cultivation facility to another licensed business, with lower rates for immature flower, trim, and clones. The City of Fairbanks also imposes its own marijuana sales tax under Fairbanks General Code Chapter 74, Article VII.9City of Fairbanks, Alaska. Sales Tax Information Between state, borough, and city layers, cannabis is one of the more heavily taxed categories in the area.
If you’re a consumer, these taxes are already in the price. If you distribute or sell any of these products, each layer has its own reporting rules.
Property Tax Does the Heavy Lifting
Without a general sales tax, property tax carries borough revenue. The Fairbanks North Star Borough sets mill rates annually by resolution, and the total rate depends on where your property sits. For 2025, the areawide mill rate was 10.620 mills, or $10.62 per $1,000 of assessed value, covering general government and education.10Fairbanks North Star Borough. Resolution 2025-20 Substitute Attachment A Properties outside the city limits pay an additional non-areawide rate of about 0.584 mills, and individual service areas tack on their own rates for road maintenance, fire protection, and similar services.
Service area rates vary. Some neighborhoods add less than 1 mill; others add over 10 mills depending on what local services they’ve voted to fund. If you’re buying property in the borough, the total bill depends on which service areas overlap your parcel, not just the assessed value. The borough’s assessment office can give you the breakdown for a specific address.
Online Purchases to Fairbanks Addresses
Because neither Fairbanks nor the borough levies a general sales tax, remote sellers have nothing local to collect on shipments to Fairbanks addresses. You won’t see a local tax added at checkout. Ordering the same item to a Fairbanks address versus a Juneau or Wasilla address can mean paying several percentage points less. The collection framework exists through the Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission and could be activated if voters ever approved a local sales tax,11Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission. Alaska Remote Seller Sales Tax Commission but for now the rate on general retail is zero in Fairbanks, online and in person.