Thread by @AndrewOceanog

Hey, If every Alaskan went out and bought 12 oz. of weed, the state would generate enough tax revenue to make @GovDunleavy's senseless $440M budget vetoes completely unnecessary!

#AlaskaGrown #ProblemSolved #akleg #akgov

More thoughtful thread below...

In all seriousness, there are a lot of better options than buying weed or vetoing funding for education, seniors, health care, and the most vulnerable Alaskans.

e.g., H.B.132: links the size of the PFD to oil revenue rather than the Permanent Fund's investment earnings. So when oil revenue is high, the PFD will be higher (and vice versa). Right now, oil revenue is low, & the state simply can't afford $1.9B on PFD. adn.com/opinions/2019/…

Or simply eliminate the $1.2 BILLION per year oil tax credit that Alaska is handing out to oil companies when oil prices and state revenue are low. adn.com/politics/alask…

Or try a modest income tax!

Alaska is not broke. The #akgov is exploiting oil revenue volatility as a cudgel to dismantle an otherwise functioning government and economy. It is "Shock Doctrine" and "Disaster Capitalism" at its worst.

In introducing his budget proposal, Dunleavy said the budget must be "sustainable, predictable, and affordable".

It is none of those things.

gov.alaska.gov/newsroom/2019/…

#akgov #akleg

It's not "sustainable":

Drastic cuts to services are not sustainable. Reliance on non-renewable oil revenues is not sustainable. Cutting off investments in education, workforce development, and the @UA_System only makes the state's future less sustainable

It's certainly not "predictable":

Alaska's primary revenue sources (oil and Permanent Fund investment earnings) are defined by volatility, not stability.

And it's not "affordable":

There is nothing affordable about paying multiple billions of dollars in PFD's when the state is running a large budget deficit of a similar magnitude. Those expenses pale in comparison to the $327 million the state currently invests in the university

Alaska has a broken PFD formula that burdens the state with spending in a time of low oil revenue.

Alaska also needs to diversify, restore, and stabilize its revenue streams, not respond with reactionary cuts as oil revenue fluctuates.

Marijuana tax revenue is not going to save our budget anytime soon. Hopefully the #akleg with override the budget vetoes and put us on a more sustainable path forward with a balanced look at the PFD structure and new revenue.

Supplemental material:
[12 oz./Alaskan] * [737,000 Alaskans] * [$50 tax/oz.] = $442.2M

Reference:
tax.alaska.gov/programs/progr…