A strong reluctance to consider any efforts to levy a personal income tax on Alaskans already struggling through a recession was recently expressed by Senator Peter Micciche (R-DO).
At a joint Soldotna-Kenai Chamber of Commerce luncheon earlier this week, Micciche took to a robust Power Point presentation available through his office.
He clicked through a series of graphics and statistics demonstrating that the Unrestricted General Fund budget is at a decade low, Education’s Basic Student Allocation hasn’t been cut since he has been in the Legislature, and the smallest Capital Budget in 17 years was just passed.
Senator Peter Micciche: “”It used to be that $107 a barrel was necessary to balance the budget, with the POMV around $54 for the whole year, which is within the realm of possibility, either that or if we can continue to see production increase on the Slope – we will have a balanced budget.”
Micciche suggested the Legislature has done a respectable job reining spending in – cutting a billion dollars a year over the last five years, essentially cutting the State Budget in half since he arrived in Juneau.
Within striking distance – filling a $100 million gap and meeting the current levels of State expenditures. Black gold could pump Alaska immediately back in the black on the balance sheet.
Senator Peter Micciche: “We are expecting a third year of increased production. You bring on a Willow at 70-80,000 barrels a day, plus the other projects that are being looked at right now – we are in the black, immediately. The reason we don’t feel the income tax is the right time is because of all those positive discoveries that we expect to see on line within the next few years.”
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