Republican candidates Tregarrick Taylor and Bernadette Wilson have both signed the so-called “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” promoted nationally by zealot Grover Norquist, to oppose all tax increases and veto any that might be approved by the Alaska Legislature.
What they need to understand is that Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the same dumb pledge years ago and now has had to admit that he was wrong by supporting a range of new taxes. The math doesn’t work.
Read MoreExtending the requirements of the public records act to AIDEA wil not make proprietary and confidential financial information public. And it will not kill the desire of private companies to get state financial assistance.
Read MoreMany readers sent eloquent messages to the Alaska Congressional delegation about the murders in Minneapolis and the federal kidnapping of a 5-year-old boy in a bunny hat only to receive answers as sincere as the automated phone systems that claim “Your call is important to us.”
Read MoreNew research by ISER looks at 11 fiscal options for the state that look at what changes to state spending and taxes would mean to the economy. It’s a complex situation.
Read MoreHere’s a whopper from the Resource Development Council: Carrying out the mission of AIDEA “depends on insulating AIDEA’s investment decisions from political interference and treating its assets as separate from general state funds.”
Read MoreBoth sides did not shoot and kill Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Masked federal gunmen did.
Read MoreTo no one’s surprise, the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority claims that a study by Northern Economics portrays AIDEA as a great financial success.
The document released Tuesday is not so much a study, however, as it is a self-promotional brochure for AIDEA that cost the state $250,000 and falls short in every respect.
Read MoreNorthern Economics of Anchorage finished a “long form report” about the economics of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority two years ago.
It should have been released to the public in early 2024 when it was complete.
We need to see that report, not this glossy 16-page rewritten summary that AIDEA has just released to the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Read MoreHidden in the governor’s plan to enact a statewide sales tax is a plan to eliminate all corporate income taxes in Alaska in five years, which would cost the state more than a half-billion dollars a year starting in mid-2031.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has made no case in public for the elimination of the petroleum corporate income tax—expected to generate $245 million a year—or the corporate income tax, which could otherwise be generating nearly $300 million a year in five years.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy claimed last week he would propose a “seasonal” sales tax.
"There will be a temporary, seasonal sales tax concept put forth for discussion with the Legislature," Dunleavy said during a cabinet meeting last week.
But he is not proposing a seasonal sales tax. He introduced a bill today for a year-round 2 percent tax, doubling to four percent between April and September.
Read More
