To 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 MoreSen. Dan Sullivan, who is campaigning for reelection on his government-funded social media accounts, claims to be on a “Mat-Su manufacturing tour” where he can show pictures of himself touring factories and looking for votes.
Sullivan has had nothing to say on his government-funded social media accounts about the killing of Alex Pretti by masked federal gunmen on a street in Minneapolis.
Read MoreOn January 8, Sen. Lisa Murkowski called for federal action to prevent another killing like that of Renee Good.
“Yesterday was devastating and cannot happen again,” Murkowski said. She called on the Trump administration to make sure its officers “have the necessary training and resources to safely—and with empathy and respect for human life—carry out these activities.”
It happened again.
Read MoreThe pieces of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s so-called fiscal plan that he revealed Friday are not the work of a governor who is serious about a fiscal plan, which is in keeping with his dismal track record on these matters since he took office seven years ago.
Read MoreWhat Sullivan has not found time to comment on in any way is Trump’s Greenland delusion and the damage it has done to the United States standing in the world. Trump has attacked and belittled our NATO allies and gone out of his way to court Putin and other dictators.
Read MoreGov. Mike Dunleavy, taking a cue from Trump’s Soviet-style cabinet meetings, gathered with his commissioners so they could praise his leadership and his vision, reciting what they consider Dunleavy’s accomplishments.
The state plans to print a booklet soon of his accomplishments.
Read MoreUntil or unless Dunleavy says that Republicans better vote for new taxes or else, the taxing part of his alleged plan is going nowhere. Years of Dunleavy’s claims that the state needs no new taxes are fresh in the political memory.
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