:quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-adn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/R62UHF4NQNGUFNBMCIXV4DTRM4.jpg)
I don’t feel I am unusual for an Alaskan. I was born and raised in Fairbanks by politically conservative-leaning parents. My father was an elementary school teacher. My mother played the organ for our church. We watched the news every evening and my family was keenly aware of every political development nationally, statewide and locally, as they were reported. My parents had long, loud political discussions with friends and neighbors and taxes were always front and center in the conversation.
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s believing that taxes were bad, that the oil money would never run out, and that I could expect a life of peace and comfort, so long as Alaska was my home.
Alaska is still my home. I left Alaska when I joined the Air Force and returned. I left Alaska to go to school in Colorado and returned. I will probably never leave again, because Alaska is where I belong. However, the oil money ran out. There has been great controversy for many years about what to do about it. And I am growing increasingly weary of the political shenanigans between the governor’s office and the Legislature.
I am just a layperson, but in Fairbanks, where I grew up, a tax is a tax is a tax. To me, taking a percentage of everybody’s Permanent Fund dividend is a flat tax. Stripping the budget down to nothing to the extent the local governments are forced to increase property taxes seems to me like we may be expecting property owners in Alaska to shoulder the deficit burden in the absence of flat taxes. I think I’ve been clear about how much I love Alaska. I’m willing to pay my fair share to live here: for public safety, for roads that don’t mess up my axles, for public schools that don’t mess up my kid, for a university system that will make him marketable for a reasonable cost, etc. If I must pay a tax for all this (and I’m happy to do so, because again, I love Alaska), I’d rather pay a modest income tax: my fair share. I’d rather not involuntarily “donate” a chunk of my PFD to the state coffers because to me, this may be quite a lot more than my fair share. I’d rather not expect property owners to pay my share for me, because that’s not fair. That is the opposite of fair.
Alaska benefited from an income tax before the oil boom, and it should do so again. The oil boom is gone, the oil boom money is gone, and all the political teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing and posturing won’t bring it back. I am ready and willing to pay to live in Alaska, but I want to pay my fair share honestly. In my opinion, an income tax would be the most appropriate way for me to do so. Let’s not pretend this chunk of my PFD headed to the state coffers is not a tax, because it is. I’m from Fairbanks: I know.
Dena R. Ivey works as a probate specialist in the Anchorage office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.