Alaska’s Senate majority considers slashing PFD to add $250M to public education
Alaska’s Democratic-controlled Senate majority caucus is attempting to justify deep cuts to this year’s Permanent Fund Dividend checks in order to pump an extra $250 million dollars into public education, along with paying down massive amounts of
Do Alaskans get paid to live there? The who, what, when, where & why of the PFD
By ED KING – KING ECONOMICS GROUP Editor’s note: This article first appeared at King Economics Group. It is republished here with permission. Whenever I travel to the Lower 48, I usually get asked this question: “Do you really get paid just for
OPINION: Why Alaska should never pass a budget exceeding $7.7 billion in state funds
By Vance Ginn and Quinn Townsend – Alaska Policy Forum Introduction While revenue estimates for the state of Alaska hit a record high last fiscal year, this upcoming fiscal year 2024 (July 2023 – June 2024) is another story. The Fall 2022 revenue
High cost of living makes an Alaska income tax doubly burdensome
By Jared Walczak (Tax Foundation) Alaska’s decision to forgo an individual income tax serves an important role in offsetting above-average federal income tax burdens in Alaska. At first blush, this sounds confusing. Alaskans face the same federal income tax
Alaska’s rising education expenses fueled by benefits and a growing administrative apparatus
By Sarah Montalbano – Alaska Policy Forum The Reason Foundation recently published the 2022 K–12 education spending spotlight examining school finance trends from 2002 to 2020. The Alaska data points, calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau, show
Murkowski helps Dems pass spending bill that includes $11M for LGBTQ special interests
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of 18 Republican senators who voted with Democrats to approve a $1.7 trillion bill to fund the federal government for the next year. The legislation includes 7,200 earmarks costing over $15 billion, including $11 million for
ANALYSIS: Is Juneau running out of diesel?
(ErikN Publications) – On October 27, 2022, Tucker Carlson announced to the nation that we are running short of diesel, with a mere 25 days of diesel inventory remaining. He was following up on a question that was posed to John Kirby, President
Alaska’s 2022 commercial fishing harvest valued at $720 million, $77 million more than 2021
Alaska’s Department of Fish & Game has released its preliminary numbers on the 2022 commercial salmon fishery harvest. fishing harvest. Counting all salmon species, the value is estimated to be $720.4 million, which is significantly higher than 2021’s
OPINION: Alaska is in the midst of a great constitutional debate
Every 10 years the voters of Alaska have the chance to determine whether to open our state constitution up for changes. Our founders had the foresight to give us this option. “Defend Our Constitution,” the group using substantial amounts of dark
Breaking down how the State of Alaska spends its money
By Quinn Townsend – (Alaska Policy Forum) Alaska Policy Forum’s annual Budget Blocks are a simple, straightforward way to visualize how Alaska is spending its money and from which funds that money is coming. The size of each block corresponds to the