![]() ![]() However, the effects of this distraction were extremely unbalanced. In the seven years since its inception, the diversions are the state’s second-largest source of revenue, behind only oil licenses and taxes.Īt that level, about 4% of Alaska’s total adjusted gross income (AGI) was diverted from the state’s private sector to the government over the period. But new or not, the source has become significant. ![]() One excuse we sometimes hear is that the issue of personal responsibility for government expenses is relatively new in Alaska, only resurfaced in 2017 with the diversion of a portion of the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) to the government. We can’t remember the last time a House or Senate Finance Committee co-chair, the director of the Legislative Treasury Department, the commissioner of the Treasury Department, or the director of the Bureau of Administration and Budget-the key players in Alaskan fiscal policy-have ever uttered that phrase. In fact, a national group periodically conducts a detailed investigation focused solely on “Who Pays?” for government spending at the state and local levels in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.īut in Alaska, the issue is rarely mentioned at all in budget discussions, let alone treated as an equal factor. In other states and at the national level, the issue of “who pays for personal expenses” is not only treated as an equal issue, but is sometimes even given priority. One of the most troubling aspects of fiscal policy in the state of Alaska is the failure of policymakers and others to regularly treat who pays for government spending as a financial issue on an equal footing with how much the government spends on what.
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