Category Archives: Posts by Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets

We have been working on a number of pieces of our Independent Expenditure effort as we prepare for the coming election cycle. For those interested, here is the current draft of our mission statement.

Alaska is in a recession.

The ISER analysis of the state’s current fiscal situation has been crystal clear throughout that cutting the PFD adds to that.  According to that analysis, cutting the PFD has the “largest adverse impact on the economy” (both on jobs and income) and is “by far the costliest measure for Alaska families” of all the various “new revenue” options. 

Those are the direct quotes:  “largest” and “costliest.” 

There are no contrary analyses; none. There hasn’t even been a substantive rebuttal of the point.

Yet, despite the fact that the state is already in a recession, that is the fiscal policy that, to varying degrees, the Governor, Senate and House all have pursued.

There are some beneficiaries of that policy.  Some parts of the economy tied closely to government spending levels have been maintained, and the Top 20% of Alaskans by income have dodged paying a significant share of the resulting costs.

But those have come at the disproportionate expense of the Remaining 80% of Alaskans and, even more importantly, at the cost of imposing a larger adverse impact on the overall economy and Alaska families.

Put simply, the Governor, Senate & House have prioritized the government sector over the overall economy, and the Top 20% of Alaskans over the Remaining 80%.

They have made the overall Alaska economy and the economic position of most Alaskans worse.

In our view that creates a need for significant change this coming election. We intend to play a role in bringing that about.

We started running an online ad campaign today explaining our views on how Alaska should raise so-called “new revenues” for government, if we have to go there.  The video is above. For those interested, the full slidedeck used in the video is at our Slideshare page at https://goo.gl/Xxw9Rb, and a more detailed commentary explaining our position is here, at Page Two of our blog, https://goo.gl/trVzaQ.

Earlier this week the Alaska Senate Majority started running a social media ad featuring a video of Senate President Pete Kelly advocating for the Senate’s proposed fiscal plan.  The Senate’s plan relies solely on PFD cuts to raise “new revenue.”

The purpose of the ad is to compare the Senate’s plan against the House plan, which relies on a combination of PFD cuts and an income tax to raise “new revenue.”  The ad focuses on the income tax portion and argues both that it is unnecessary and adversely affects “working Alaskans.”  The Senate’s ad is available here.

As readers of these pages will know, we oppose PFD cuts as part of a proposed “fiscal solution.”  Based on various analyses published last year and this by the Institute of Social and Economic Research, we have come to believe that cutting the PFD is the worst step to take from the perspective of the overall Alaska economy and working Alaska families.  It reduces overall Alaska income more than any other fiscal option, reduces both income and jobs more than any other “new revenue” option, increases poverty levels and income disparity more than any other fiscal option and as ISER concluded in an additonal analysis earlier this year:

A cut in PFDs would be by far the costliest measure for Alaska families.

As a result, after thinking about the Senate Majority’s ad, we put together our response.  Readers can play it at the video above, or on YouTube, here.

This is the third piece in our a radio and social media campaign focused on urging legislators to retain the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend as it currently is. The first two are here and here.

This piece is introduced in our social media campaign this way:

Economists tell us depositing the PFD directly into the pockets of Alaskans produces more Alaska income than if redirected to and spent by government. Simply put, we Alaskans produce more income — generate more money in the economy — if WE spend the money rather than government.

Alaska already is in a recession, if you agree with us that taking even more money out of the Alaska economy during these uncertain times through a PFD cut is the wrong step for Alaska, contact your legislator by email, text, by posting on Facebook or Twitter with one simple message — tell them you want them to KEEP THE PFD AS IT IS (a sample email and contact information for members of the legislature is available here: https://goo.gl/BT2BAz). Then, repost this video so that your friends do the same. For continuing updates and commentary on Alaska’s fiscal situation, like, follow and engage with us at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets. #KeepThePFD

As we have discussed often on these pages, we believe retaining the PFD as it is, is an important part of developing a long term, sustainable Alaska budget and overall economy.  If you agree, please support the effort in the ways we describe in our social media post above.

Publisher’s Note:  As readers of these pages may recall Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets also maintains a separate blog providing news & commentary on Alaska fiscal and economic policy on national website Medium.  The following piece appeared first on that website.  ______________________________

Yesterday in response to a question during the Fairbanks presentation of the Alaska Senate Majority’s Fiscal Plan Senator Click Bishop said that he had started talking to colleagues about developing an “economic stimulus plan” of various capital projects. The question and response begins at about 54:00 of the following video. Fortunately, I was sitting out of the frame, so my resulting facepalm is not recorded for posterity.

In many ways, Sen. Bishop’s response tells you all you ever need to know about why the Alaska economy is in the shape it is, and why it will become worse if either the current Alaska Senate Majority or Alaska House Majority Coalition fiscal plans are enacted.

Alaska already has what many economists view as an outstanding and long term “economic stimulus plan.” It’s the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD). According to a March 2016 analysis by the University of Alaska-Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), each $1 distributed as a PFD in Alaska produces about $1.40 in income in the overall Alaska economy. As “stimulus” packages go that’s an extremely good bang for the buck.

As significantly, according to the March 2016 and subsequent ISER studies the PFD also materially reduces state poverty levels and helps reduce income disparity, both also very important economic objectives.

But that program is troublesome to some because it puts the dollars — and economic decisions — in the hands of individual Alaskans, rather than government. So, rather than do whatever it takes to maintain the program during an increasingly serious economic recession, the majority caucuses in both bodies are currently proposing to curtail it severely and move roughly half of the dollars — and resulting control over how those dollars are spent — over to government, substituting instead things like Senator Bishop’s “economic stimulus plan” to help drive the economy. Continue reading →

Source:  Institute of Social & Economic Research, “Short-run economic impacts of Alaska Fiscal Options” at III -9.

Publisher’s Note:  As readers of these pages may recall Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets also maintains a separate blog providing news & commentary on Alaska fiscal and economic policy on national website Medium.  The following piece appeared first on that website.     ______________________________

Let’s be clear on this to start. We oppose state income taxes.

We oppose them for the same reason that others will assert as well, because of the adverse effect on the Alaska economy and families.

But let’s also be clear about something else, if that is your reason for opposing an income tax, then you should have opposed the PFD cut as well. Why? Because, according to ISER’s March and October 2016 studies, cutting the PFD has a larger adverse impact on overall Alaska income and jobs — the Alaska economy and families — than an income tax. Continue reading →

As we mentioned in a post last week we have started a radio and social media campaign focused on urging legislators to retain the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend as it currently is. The ad above is the second in the series (the first is here). The audio is the radio campaign ad.

The second ad is introduced in our social media campaign this way:

We believe the full PFD should stay in the pockets of Alaskans rather than be used by government to help fund special interests. If you agree, contact your legislator by email, text, by posting on Facebook or Twitter with one simple message — tell them you want them to KEEP THE PFD AS IT IS (to help get you started, a draft of an email and contact information for members of the Senate and House is available here: https://goo.gl/BT2BAz). Then, repost this video so that your friends do the same. For continuing updates and commentary on Alaska’s fiscal situation, like, follow and engage with us at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets. #KeepThePFD

As we have discussed often on these pages, we believe retaining the PFD as it is, is an important part of developing a long term, sustainable Alaska budget and overall economy.  If you agree, please support the effort in the ways we describe in our social media post above.

As the next step in our efforts, yesterday we started a radio and social media campaign focused on urging legislators to retain the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend as it currently is.  The ad above is the first in the series. The audio is the radio campaign ad.

The social media campaign is introduced by this post:

We believe the full PFD should stay in the pockets of Alaskans rather than be used by government to help fund special interests. If you agree, contact your legislator by email, text, by posting on Facebook or Twitter and tell them you want them to #KeepThePFD. Their contact information can be found at http://akleg.gov. Then, repost this video so that your friends do the same. For continuing updates and commentary on Alaska’s fiscal situation, like, follow and engage with us at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets.

We are taking this step because, for the reasons we have explained on these pages, we believe strongly that the Alaska legislature is headed in the wrong direction on this issue and are willing to put our money where our mouth is.