A Way Forward on the Alaska Budget: A Presentation to the Friday Fairbanks GOP Lunch

Speaking on behalf of Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets and following on the heels of Governor Walker’s State of the State last night, I had the privilege of being the luncheon speaker at today’s Friday Fairbanks GOP Lunch to discuss the Alaska state budget.  As with a previous presentation last month to the Alaska Republican Assembly, the speech centered around three points:

• Alaska is facing a budget challenge but it may not be as bad as some suggest.
• In my view, there is a solid and realistic fiscal alternative to addressing the state’s current budget issues that doesn’t rely on PFD cuts or taxes.
• The Governor’s and GCI’s (“Alaska’s Future“) PFD cut and other tax proposals are unnecessary, are imbalanced (between the private and government sectors) and may do more harm than good to the overall Alaska economy.

A copy of the slide deck is available in the window above or here.