What others say: As lawmakers return to session, it’s time to balance state budget

  • Tuesday, July 12, 2016 7:54pm
  • Opinion

Monday morning, for the third time this year, the members of the Alaska Legislature were scheduled to gather to deal with unfinished business. Once again, the main issue lawmakers will be dealing with is the multibillion-dollar state budget deficit. But this time around, the picture is dramatically different. A series of targeted budget vetoes by Gov. Bill Walker have dampened the political ramifications surrounding restructuring of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s earnings reserve, as well as removed obstacles to a revenue compromise that the Republican-led majority and minority Democrats called impassable before.

Now there are no excuses and Alaskans’ patience with delay is exhausted. It’s time to chart a course to a balanced budget.

The first special session this year saw legislators pass a budget and oil tax credit legislation but stall out on the issue most fundamental to Alaska’s fiscal future: The restructuring of permanent fund earnings to provide for a reduced dividend and a stable source of income for government services. Though Gov. Walker’s plan, Senate Bill 128, passed the Senate by a 14-5 vote, it ran into trouble in the house, where many Republicans and Democrats lined up against it for different professed reasons. Republicans said they wanted more cuts to the budget many of them had just signed, while Democrats wanted to take another crack at just-passed oil tax credit legislation to reduce development credits to producers. An unspoken issue that was also clearly at play: 2016 is an election year, and the amount of rage generated by proposed changes to fund earnings in some quarters of the electorate is clearly a worry for legislators eyeing their prospects in October.

Seeing this, Gov. Walker acted to remove the political obstacles by taking the blame for them himself. He vetoed the payment of $410 million in oil tax credits and removed hundreds of millions of dollars in state spending from the budget. Most importantly, he reduced the allocation from the permanent fund earnings reserve by roughly half, taking responsibility for residents’ smaller checks this fall than they would have received otherwise. As a result, legislators won’t have the worry of political repercussions of reducing that allocation themselves. It’s time for them to get down to business.

While there has been plenty of inflated rhetoric on the budget issue, the math is simple enough: Cuts that would reduce the cost of government to match current revenues would not only devastate state services and put thousands of Alaskans out of work, there’s no way to close the gap through cuts alone. In a similar vein, the kind of personal taxes necessary to cover the gap through increased revenues would do great damage to the state economy and the household budgets of its residents. The only revenue measure that will go a substantial percentage of the way toward achieving a balanced budget is restructuring the earnings of the permanent fund. And far from eliminating the dividend as some falsely claim, this course of action is the only realistic way to protect it while maintaining essential state services.

Legislators know this, and they no longer have the political consequences of reducing the dividend themselves to worry about. It’s time for them to take revenue action that will protect the state’s services, its economy and the continued existence of the permanent fund dividend. There are no excuses.

—Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, July 10

More in Opinion

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, addresses a crowd with President-elect Donald Trump present. (Photo from U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan’s office)
Opinion: Sen. Sullivan’s Orwellian style of transparency

But even if he thinks it’s wrong, his commitment to self-censoring all criticism of Trump will prevent him from telling us

Rep. Sarah Vance, candidate for State House District 6, participates in a candidate forum hosted by the Peninsula Clarion and KBBI 890 AM at the Homer Public Library in Homer, Alaska, on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Point of View: Vance out of touch in plea to ‘make more babies’

In order to, as she states, “make more babies,” women have to be healthy and supported.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a press conference March 16, 2024, at the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: A budget that chooses the right policies and priorities

Alaska is a land of unmatched potential and opportunity. It always has… Continue reading

Gov. Mike Dunleavy explains details of his proposed state budget for next year during a press conference Dec. 12, 2014, at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: Governor fails at leadership in his proposed budget

It looks like he is sticking with the irresponsible approach

Former Gov. Frank Murkowski speaks on a range of subjects during an interview with the Juneau Empire in May 2019. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: A viable option: A railroad extension from the North Slope

It is very difficult for this former banker to contemplate amortizing an $11 billion project with over less than half a million Alaska ratepayers

Therese Lewandowski. (Photo provided)
Point of View: Inflation, hmmm

Before it’s too late and our history gets taken away from us, everyone should start studying it

A state plow truck clears snow from the Kenai Spur Highway on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Use of the brine shows disregard for our community

It is very frustrating that the salt brine is used on the Kenai Peninsula often when it is not needed

A cherished "jolly Santa head" ornament from the Baisden Christmas tree. (Photo provided)
Opinion: Reflections of holidays past

Our family tradition has been to put up our Christmas tree post-Thanksgiving giving a clear separation of the holidays

Screenshot. (https://dps.alaska.gov/ast/vpso/home)
Opinion: Strengthening Alaska’s public safety: Recent growth in the VPSO program

The number of VPSOs working in our remote communities has grown to 79

Soldotna City Council member Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings participates in the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL candidate forum series, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: I’m a Soldotna Republican and will vote No on 2

Open primaries and ranked choice voting offer a way to put power back into the hands of voters, where it belongs

Nick Begich III campaign materials sit on tables ahead of a May 16, 2022, GOP debate held in Juneau. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file photo)
Opinion: North to a Brighter Future

The policies championed by the Biden/Harris Administration and their allies in Congress have made it harder for us to live the Alaskan way of life

Shrubs grow outside of the Kenai Courthouse on Monday, July 3, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Opinion: Vote yes to retain Judge Zeman and all judges on your ballot

Alaska’s state judges should never be chosen or rejected based on partisan political agendas