Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Tax Thoughts on State Sales VS Income Taxes

The fact that the gov claims there is not enough fat to be cut is a pretty good indication that they will never have enough money to suit them.

yep if you talk to folks in administration in gov't they will try and tell you they're cut to the bone already.


they're the folks that decide what needs to be cut and often it's their very own department that needs cutting, administration.

With that deep thought what are you willing to do with out?

Roads? Airports? Schools? Fire? Police? The Army? Air Force? How about fuel? You do know we have refineries because the state provides incentives right? Or lets get rid of the port...That will just about shut down the economy with in a week or so.

Spend a little time thinking about what life in AK would be with out the state and feds and taxes....

I'm sure there are places where the belt can still be tightened some more. But I also wonder if the state has, through lack of foresight, bitten off more than they can sustain. I simply look at things like some of the new schools they've put up. While I don't deny the need, there is surely more than one way to design a 20,000(?) sq ft building for example, and I hardly think a long straight hallway with classrooms on both sides is the smartest way in terms of buildings for coastal (windy) Alaska. It just doesn't make sense to me in terms of long term management costs. It would seem to me that heating costs could be significantly reduced by reducing or protecting some of the surface area. (Three 30,000 gallon tanks included in one known structure suggest that the architects knew their design would not heat efficiently given a single yearly fill-up.)

That's just a single example, but there are undoubtedly many which have similar problems. There doesn't seem to be adequate thought put into design in terms of managing costs for the life of various projects. And then there's the waste that goes into some projects too, as if the credibility and status of architects and engineers rides on the numbers of colors and complexity of shape that can be included .

Metaphorically, there's a big difference between mac and cheese and sirloin steak dinners, and we seem to have jumped from one to the other in many respects in terms of our capital investing. Spaghetti and meatballs would be a much more sustainable diet than punching a lifetime meal ticket of steak.

Previously funded projects are water under the bridge of course, but they saddle the state with maintenance costs that are difficult to get around without simply shutting things down. And whether a building, an airport, or a road, shutting it down until the day you can pay to keep it open is a likely death sentence for that investment.

I was on a couple of committees to design a new school here. What they actually were was trying to use "citizens" to push the bond election.

I was not invited back after the 2nd one because I kept pushing the idea that when designing, we needed to also think through maintenance, more employees etc... cost wise, and the fact that yes I agree we need to an ok school but I compared it to cars... I can get by that we don't need a Kia, but they kept designing Mercedes... while we needed, at best, an impala....

When I'm paying for you chit, it needs to be the ham sandwhich, not the ribeye!!!

Thats why I was never invited back...

AND... they wanted to spend almost a million to salvage some bricks out of our old high school to make a memorial out of ....

It served its purpose, put an old brick in the corner of the new one, cost... hmmm a few bucks maybe.. but a million for a shrine... screw that, I didn't even like going to school....

Why didn't u start right off saying " don't feed the kids".....WTF.
"""""In the last decade, Alaska State general fund spending grew from $2.1 billion in FY2004 to $4.4 billion in FY2014, a 109 percent increase. To put it in perspective, inflation increased only 30 percent during that same time, and population increased just 11 percent."""" ...simple

Did with out???? I use the road to get to work I use a 1/6 dozen street lights / guess what, when the powers out I this manage to get thru the intersection, its called wait your turn ! So much for my Load on the state funding.

DHSS

If they get to the pfd ...it will cost u 1000.00$ the next 3 or so pfds are tobe around 2g (by my banker buddy) that's a 1000$ tax on YOUR 2grand...I can spend my money better than some knot head .gov guy passing money to their buds

As with most homes in this country with financial problems, so it is with local, state and federal GOVs.....


the problem is rarely income!!!!

Lets start the pay cuts at the top including your state representative? A little leadership would go a long way. Stick to the 90 day session, 20% pay cut for all elected officials and 25% cut for their staff and then lets look at the state workers.


What do ya think?

City I work for is frozen too pay wise.

But then again I could make more in the private sector but went here to be able to help the public, thought it was a noble idea.

Wish I had not but its too late. Our retirement, pay and benefits are worse than any private sector I've ever worked for.

But I believe if I could get to or wanted to, to bigger .gov, it would be the other way around.
But I digress.

I still think the pfd payout should slowly go away. But we need to make the gov earn its portion. For every dollar they cut from the budget, give them and equal amount or 1.50 from the fund. Keep paying out the fund to the public in diminishing amounts until it's phased out and end the incentive for people to move here and chit out a dozen kids. I am sorry I voted for Walker, didn't see this coming and I should have. I'm man enough to admit it, lol...

hell I"m still alive so I'm still making mistakes. LOL. Admitting is a good start, keeps you from doing that particular one again.

Makes perfect sense, unless your living is derived off of tourism income. A lot of the infrastructure that was build in this state was built for the benefit of tourists (or at least with tourism in mind),even though it benefits residents as well. I'm not saying I'm for sticking it to tourists, but I do understand why people say it. It only natural that people resent the yearly influx of outsiders consuming the local resource. I'm not anti tourist by a long shot, but I do feel a bit like a nimby when the bus pulls up in my neck o the woods and a gaggle of Asians or GQ dressed L48ers pile out looking for the chitter.

It won't be my last mistake, but the last time I make THAT one!

Got to always keep in mind that Walker has always been a Republican. He may have formed a collation to win bur still is a died in the wool Republican. Do you think what we are seeing right now would be different if the "R" in the race had won?


Leadership begins with making hard decisions at home first. Show me some serious cuts with the LIO, reduce staff and pay in Juneau and then come tell us how the middle class needs to make sacrifices and stop posturing for the next election for god sakes. The thought that we need to expend time, money and energy on who teaches "Sex Ed" when the issue should be about the budget is just stupid. or should I say " Posturing" for your next election cycle!

A time clock at the LIO here in Fairbanks would do wounders for accountability.... Then a DNA test/maiden name/ background check on everyone of them .....They are DAMMNEAR ALL RELATED !