It’s time for Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his legislative supporters to let go of the pursuit of an unsustainably large PFD and show some statesmanship by acknowledging that fiscal conditions simply do not support the campaign promise he made a few years ago. Fiscal irresponsibility continues to manifest itself with this team. They just can’t seem to refrain from raiding the Permanent Fund to make good on a misguided political campaign promise.
The provision for an annual percent-of-market-value (POMV) draw from the Permanent Fund was a good policy move. Adjusting the PFD payment policy should have gone along with it. Gov. Dunleavy’s 50 /50 plan to split the POMV draw provides for an inordinately large PFD payment that shortchanges state programs and services. It goes contrary to sound financial practice and responsible decision-making in the context of our continuing budget woes.
Do we really want to issue an inordinately large PFD, a socialistic gesture by conservative standards, only to later tax Alaskans to pay for it? The 50 /50 plan remains incomplete in that it fails to formally identify new revenue sources. The governor’s team should commit themselves and flesh out the revenue component with legislation.
Consideration of a “one time overdraw, just this once,” is an open invitation for future overdraws that will be irreplaceable. Consider the lost future income denied to Alaskans. A suggestion would be to provide a PFD that is the average of all previous PFD payments over the 41-year life of the program. That would be about $1,200 annually, and would be sustainable. Or the average payout of the past five years might be used. Either way, it would be more responsible than promoting pie-in-the-sky PFD payments that will eventually hurt the Permanent Fund itself, other state services, and individual Alaskans long after Gov. Dunleavy is out of office.
— Tim Benintendi
Anchorage
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