A national anti-tax organization – Americans for Tax Reform – has announced that former Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor and conservative grassroots leader and business owner Bernadette Wilson have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge in their bid to become Alaska’s next governor.
“The Taxpayer Protection Pledge stands as a barrier against tax hikes and makes continued pro-growth tax reform possible,” Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist noted in a Dec. 19 statement. “We applaud Bernadette Wilson’s and Treg Taylor’s decision to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to their constituents, ensuring that Alaska will maintain one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation.
Alaska is one of just eight states with no personal income tax.
“In signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Wilson and Taylor are in good company,” added Norquist. “Other Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers in Alaska include Governor Mike Dunleavy, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom, Senator Dan Sullivan, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Representative Nick Begich, among others.”
The pledge was first launched in the early 1990’s to hold candidates accountable.
“Candidates running for public office like to say they will not raise taxes, but often turn their backs on the taxpayer once elected,” the Americans for Tax Reform website explains. “The idea of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is simple enough: Make them put their no-new-taxes rhetoric in writing, so the promise is much harder to break.
Nevertheless, some politicians break the pledge after signing on.
Earlier this year, for example, Alaska Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage) joined state Democrats to pass Senate Bill 113, legislation that would have expanded Alaska’s 9.4% corporate income tax burden upon a host of companies that sell goods and services online.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed the legislation
The pledge is offered to all candidates running for federal, state and local office. For more information, click here.
9 Comments
The worst economic disaster coming to Alaska is the price of gasoline to drive a car or other fuel usage costs. Phillips 66 is shutting down in California and other refineries in Oregon and Washington. Subsequently, the price of gas is going tom skyrocket out of control. The crime Boss Dunleavy always runs around with no idea what he’ll do about that. Not prepared and not planning. Crime Boss Dunleavy sticks his head in the sand or looks another direction hoping it passes him by.
Simply BS from a fearmonger!!
Do you deny that Phillips is closing their California refineries? Do you deny the fact that Oregon has no refineries, and the single fuel pipeline feed from Puget Sound is down repeatedly? Do you deny the fact that Enstar is talking about the importation of natural gas to South-central Alaska due to a lack of infrastructure upgrade and increased demand?
Diana / Reggie, you commonly assail the oil companies and snipe at Governor Dunleavy but always stop short of addressing the root causes of the problems you whine about. Why is Phillips closing the LA Refinery? What actionable power does Dunleavy have? Answer these questions and you will clearly see that it is shortsighted people – like you – who complain about everything and make foolish demands only to be foiled by your own actions when negative things happen. Please use the old rule of communication before commenting: You have 2 ears, 2 eyes, but only 1 mouth. Use your ears and eyes twice as much as you use your mouth. Or in this case your comments…
They’ll do it even if it is in writing
The price of gas in Alaska won’t be impacted as much as one would think by Lower 48 refineries closing down since the oil companies have a captive market here for fuel products derived from Alaska crude oil. The price of gasoline, diesel fuel, home heating fuel, jet fuel, etc should at least be the lowest in the State in the locality where it refined (i.e. Valdez, Nikiski for the Kenai/Soldotna area) since the cost of transport by tanker trucks is so low since it is literally just down the road from the refineries to the local Alaska retailers.
Crickets from our legislature, governor and A.G.
We haven’t had public radio or TV for the last two decades. We won’t miss it.
What Lisa is afraid of is, it will be gone from the Hubs with thousands of votes, not a couple dozen or up to a couple hundred votes in the remote villages.
Cathy Giessel, I still can’t believe she got reelected. Do you all remember when gas was $2.00
Look to California at their gas prices, they’re out of control over $6.00 dollars a gallon.
Are you lying or just poorly informed?