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Jan. 27, 2016

JUNEAU - Governor Bill Walker plans to tax working Alaskans 1.5 percent of their gross earnings soon. This means if you're making $100,000 a year (before federal taxes) you'll pay Gov. Walker $1,500 annually. If you're making $50,000 a year, you'll fork over $750.

If you're not working, no worries: Gov. Walker boldly proclaimed at AFN that he would "not balance the budget on the back of rural Alaska."

Nearly every aspect of the actual Alaska producing economy, however, would face big taxes under Bill Walker's Tax Plan:

2 percent increase on the mining industry.
1 percent increase on commercial fishing.
Eliminating the tourism tax exemptions.
Another tax on every alcoholic drink.
Another $1 tax on a pack of cigarettes.
Eliminating the oil and gas tax credits.
New taxes on oil and gas.
50-60 percent tax on Permanent Fund Dividends.
All these taxes, Walker pleads, are needed because he is unable to find more than $100 million in cuts. In fact, his FY2017 budget is higher than his FY2016 budget (that he forced through with the help of Democrats). He has been unwilling to tackle the automatic formulas driving much of government spending.


http://www.alaskagop.org/governor_s...veryone_in_alaska_who_works_for_a_living

Think the house and senate will obey in an election year?

The oil gravy train is over.

It's not really 'over' but in a hiatus of undetermined length.

So we should take hundreds of millions from the citizens and the private sector to prop up even more government excess?


nice

The gravy train the needs to be ended our the massive unsustainable entitlements that are devoured state wide. If the state is going to fund schooling, it should be an equal percentage state wide. If there are communities that cannot sustain themselves and have no economic reason to exist (asside from being wards of the state) then it's time for them to close up shop and move to where they can find jobs.

The PFD should be used as intended to fund a reasonably sized state government.

When the smaller places dry up, hard times will begin to fall on the rural hub communities. When the rural hubs begin to dry up, urban areas will feel the pain- more than what already exists. We are either in this together, or we'll all suffer for it. The harsh realities may be that economic opportunities of times past have brought more folks into the state than the state can realistically support. If we are forced to go backwards, perhaps we'll have to start disinviting folks whom the state cannot economically afford to keep.

?????????

Thanks to all the low information voters thinking a hybrid deal with Byron Mallot could be anything but a royal screwing.

I'm fairly certain that the definition you come up with will vary from that of the politicians.

As dave ramsey would say... rice and beans; beans and rice to balance the budget.

Ok, so after a few hundred million in budget slimming, how do you suggest closing the rest of the gap?

Last one out of Alaska please shut off the light. They knew for years and years that things were starting to slow down, with the refinery closing, the Keystone XL Pipeline plan tanked from AK to AB, oil companies have been cutting back on drilling and the military cutting back in AK. No one to blame but the ones in office for this mess.

I wounder if it will be as bad soon, as it did after the oil line was built and things slowed down. I see there a lot of houses on the market and in FB a whole lot of houses are for sale and more move to Anchorage.

Yep. The oil pipeline has out lived it's 25 year expectancy and when major repairs to much of the line need done, what will happen then. I feel sorry for many hard working Alaskans who will be affected.

The oil companies are still planning to run the pipeline for at least another 25 years. The key to puzzle is what will the long term prices for oil be, as that dictates the continued exploration to keep the oil flowing. Shell pulling out was a major deal as that formation would have more than doubled the amount of oil in the pipeline, but the combination of the environmentalists delaying their exploration by years and falling oil prices resulted in them pulling out.

There are a lot of options, but Walker going after "minimal" income tax, "minimal" sales tax, and the PF it is obvious he is trying hard to screw everyone while increasing the size of government.

Start new taxes small and grow them and the infrastructure required to support it... costs will be huge and everyone loses. Cutting WAY BACK on social programs that keep tons of parasites here is a very good start.

Take another look at your map... Keystone was never an AK project.

Military cut-backs have been pretty small in AK compared to most states.

Pipeline has been better maintained than the infrastructure that moves oil to Pumpstation 1.

I don't doubt that we're not near the bottom yet. Housing prices have not dropped much if at all- and probably average the other direction. If you've looked at time on the market, perhaps you've also noticed that stuff is generally turning pretty fast. I suspect military bases create fluidity in housing markets.

The effects will be shaking out for a few years. In theory the contraction in the oil industry should hit the Anchorage housing market, but if government cutbacks lead to more people moving from the villages into Anchorage/Mat-su looking for jobs, then the housing market will somewhat stabilize.

Fairbanks is it's own market, don't know enough about their economy to see how the downturn on the state will effect it, but I'm sure they'll be hurt as with all communities.

It's truly mind numbing how much the state spends on the select few that decide to live their lives at the bottom. There are sadly more than a few "families" where baby momma gets free food and housing while drinking and or using the chemical substances of her choice, there are several "dad's" that bounce in and out of prison, CPS takes the kids out of the home, foster care for the kids for a period of time, everyone gets a lawyer, case worker, therapist etc when trying to re-unite the kids with the "family" and the cycle repeats. Not to mention by spending just one day in foster care, the state pays 100% of the kids college costs.

I am all for cutting entitlements. Half the state would leave. But, those are the sacred cows that nobody will touch. What would have Parnell, Palin, or any other gov have done differently? We are broke. We need to raise revenue.