Dunleavy suggests taxes after years of claiming no taxes are needed

Among many other things, Gov. Mike Dunleay says he is going to propose a sales tax as part of his so-called fiscal plan.

“There will be a temporary, seasonal sales tax concept put forth for discussion with the Legislature,” he said during a cabinet meeting, part of which was shown on Facebook.

Until 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. Arguing for taxes now shows that he was wrong all along. I don’t see him becoming a forceful lobbyist on this matter and admitting the error of his ways.

He is also unlikely to be an effective champion for the rest of his plan, such as a spending limit and a constitutional amendment on the Permanent Fund.

He said his fiscal plan will be a “roadmap to inject stability especially over the next five years when revenue, revenue is not quite what it’ll be on the years out. In the out years with more oil, as was mentioned, this gas line, and then just the increases in the Permanent Fund and POMV, we think we’re gonna be in pretty good shape. Next five years could be tough, and especially if oil goes below $60 or it stays low. If there’s any recensions from the federal government that could complicate things. So again projections, you do your projections and you try and build things around them.”

“But I would say that the components, the multi, the components of this fiscal plan with all the components in it. Hopefully if it was adopted would maintain a low spending level for years, would I think potentially put an end to the squabbles over the Permanent Fund. And then we can have discussions about how we fill that gap with various possibilities. All of which, I think, whatever is adopted I think should sunset within five years because we’re gonna be going into what I believe is going to be a more revenue prosperous era. So this is really a bridge, this is really temporary. I do think we have to settle with the Permanent Fund issue. You know where I stand on the Permanent Fund.”

“I believe the people of Alaska should have a Permanent Fund Dividend and not just the Permanent Fund. So you’ll see some of that stuff roll out here next week.”

This half-hearted plan is going nowhere fast.

Waiting until the election-year session has started to introduce the ideas was a mistake, as Dunleavy failed to engage the public in considering the options.

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