The 12-member Cash Caucus, led by Fairbanks Rep. Frank Tomaszewski, voted to have the state spend $2.4 billion on Permanent Fund Dividends this year, which would translate into about $3,600 per person.

It would also translate into a deficit of about $1.5 billion to $2 billion, which is why it’s not going to happen.

But that didn’t stop Tomaszewski from a budget amendment/grandstanding exercise that allowed members of the Cash Caucus to pledge allegiance to the dividend, exposing their budget hypocrisy.

“We’ve had disasters. We’ve had typhoons. We have folks that could really use a $3,600 PFD for every man, woman and child,” Tomaszewski said.

Yes, we’ve had disasters. But we are lucky to have 28 members of the state House, both Republicans and Democrats, smart enough to put the kibosh on the Tomaszewski plan.

Rep. Frank Tomaszewski’s plan to pay $2.4 billion in dividends this year, creating a $1.5 billion deficit, failed on a 28-12 vote. The 12 members of the Cash Caucus are in green.

The dividend this year will probably again be close to $1,000 which is all the state can afford as long as the governor and legislators refuse to raise taxes or slash state services. That is the reality that these so-called conservatives, along with Rep. Neal Foster, won’t deal with.

Before Tomaszewski and the 11 others utter another word about pumping up the 2026 dividend, they need to identify budget cuts and tax increases that total $1.5 billion to $2 billion.

For some reason they have forgotten to do that again this year.

Some of them are afraid of telling the truth. Others don’t know enough about the state budget. All of them will keep doing it as long as they get away with it.

One way of cutting $1.5 billion to $2 billion would be to eliminate state funding for two branches of government—the Legislature and the courts—while also ending state funding for about a dozen executive branch departments including transportation, fish and game, law, natural resources, revenue, labor, environmental conservation and motor vehicles. The capital budget would also have to go, so more buildings and facilities would fall apart faster.

Once the Cash Caucus grandstanders get all of that out in the open, a real discussion of tradeoffs can take place.

But it never happens because too many candidates running for office only say what they think people want to hear. A big part of the problem is that too many Alaskans who clamor for big dividends will never like budget cuts and taxes.

Even Gov. Mike Dunleavy has had to admit this year that the Cash Caucus math doesn’t work, but 12 legislators in the House have been slow to catch on.

Tomaszewski can lead the way by telling us what roads in his district should no longer be maintained, what schools in his district he thinks should be closed and how many Alaska State Troopers he wants to lay off.

Or he can say he wants an income tax, a state sales tax, higher taxes on the oil industry, mining, increased fees on all state services and longer wait times for permits. Some members of the Cash Caucus say that the Permanent Fund has plenty of money and no one would notice if we start taking an extra billion or two every year.

As he argued for his grandstanding plan, Tomaszewski said that spending $2.4 billion on dividends would put a limit on what the state could spend on services. But the beauty of the scheme is that no one would have to make any unpopular budget cuts right away. Handing out cash would come first.

“This money in the hands of everyday Alaskans stimulates our economy like nothing else. And you know Mr. Speaker when we would pay a full statutory PFD we are essentially creating a spending cap,” Tomaszewski said.

No responsible legislator will argue for a big dividend without identifying specific tax increases and specific budget cuts, which is much harder to sell to people than giving out cash.

Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.

PFD grandstanders need to be called out