Latest posts tagged with #OilCos on Bluesky
PFD cuts are about one thing only: protecting the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos from the costs of #akleg spending.
Rather than spreading the impact broadly, PFD cuts instead focus the burden almost entirely on middle- & lower-income #AKfams. buff.ly/Y8K07jZ
When PFD's are cut, the "free money" doesn't disappear. The benefit just transfers to the bank accounts of #NonRez, #OilCos & upper-income #AKfams.
Who pays for that? Middle- & lower-income #AKfams. #akleg
buff.ly/Y8K07jZ
The expectation by the Top20% & #OilCos of free govt services (maintained by PFD cuts) is a cancer that has infected Alaska's political system and, as a result, is slowly killing the state. The entitlement mentality it has created is sickening. #akleg
ALL of the #akleg POMV draw is "free money." The PFD largely benefits middle & lower-income #AKfams; the portion used to fund govt (substitute for taxes) largely benefits #NonRez, #OilCos & #UpperIncome. PFDcuts simply shift more "free money" to the latter.
Economically, the "free money" from PF earnings is used either to fund PFDs or to shield #NonRez, #OilCos & the Top20% from taxes to cover add'l govt spending. Those pushing PFD cuts just want to use more as a tax shield for the protected class. #akleg buff.ly/A7Az3TZ
... 1) middle & lower-income #AKfams on one side, and 2) upper-income, #NonRez & #OilCos on the other. #AKleg PFDcuts just give more and more of the wealth to the second. buff.ly/vyGvbMW
Permanent Fund earnings are the return on Alaska's commonly owned wealth. Current law divides them 50/50 between 1) middle & lower income #AKfams, and 2) the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos. Ignoring that, the #akleg is tilting them more and more to the latter. buff.ly/vyGvbMW
Some self-proclaimed "fiscal conservatives" are, instead, fiscal plutocrats, more interested in using the "free money" from the Permanent Fund to shield the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos from govt costs than fairness for middle & lower-income #WorkingAKfams. #akleg #cronycapitalists
The core of any Alaska fiscal proposal is how it deals with the "free money" from PF earnings. PFD shares below 50/50 disproportionately benefit the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos over MIDDLE & lower-income (80% of) #AKfams. #akleg #plutocratic buff.ly/ZGoc6eJ
There's no "ambiguity" around the PFD statute. It's clear and so is the fact that the #akleg has repeatedly violated it to shield the Top20%, #NonRez & the #OilCos to help pay for the costs of govt. buff.ly/PBCOBEO
Some support #Begich4Gov b/c he proposes raising #OilTaxes & closing the S-Corp loophole. Both are good, but he also would con't DEEP PFDcuts ("most regressive tax ever proposed"), raising more from middle- & lower-income #AKfams than from #OilCos. #akleg buff.ly/Hn6TZXD
The battle over the PFD isn't about "free money." It's over WHO gets the benefit of the "free money." Now that they are facing taxes, the Top20%, #OilCos & #NonRez want more of it for themselves by taking it from middle & lower income #AKfams. #akleg
🤦 The usual Top 20% pitch: I'm "ready" for taxes ... but only after we first tax middle and lower-income #AKfams to the max (by eliminating the PFD) before looking for any significant contributions from the Top20%, #NonRez & the #OilCos. #akleg
#AKleg Ds are an interesting bunch. They vote to divert money from middle & lower-income #AKfams so that the Top20%, #OilCos & #NonRez can keep the same amount in their bank accounts.
The biggest under-the-radar #akleg battle is the ongoing tug-of-war over who benefits from "free" #PermFund earnings. Hammond split them 50/50 b/w middle & lower-income #AKfams and the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos. Thru PFDcuts, the benefit is increasingly going to the Top20%, etc. buff.ly/uYlGA6B
🤔 Some #akleg are OUTRAGED at the potential cut in federal SNAP benefits. Yet, many of the same #akleg had no problem earlier this year withholding nearly $200mill in PFD income due those same beneficiaries and diverting it instead to benefit the state's Top20%, #OilCos & #NonRez.
🤦 Some think the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos are entitled to ALL of the "free" PF earnings by using them as a substitute for their taxes. This is how they respond when others mention the statutory provision distributing a portion to middle & lower-income #AKfams. #akleg
What's the real reason the #akleg is using PFD cuts to close the fiscal gap instead of less regressive, lower-impact taxes? Because it's easier to regressively dump costs on middle- and lower-income #AKfams, than include the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos. buff.ly/QpWmwGh
The PFD is a share of Alaska's commonly-owned wealth intended to be distributed equally to its owners. The #akleg is increasingly diverting more and more of it to the benefit of those in the Top20%, #NonRez, #OilCos & other special interests.
Those pushing PFD elimination largely fall into two camps. One is those who think they/the #akleg know better how to spend the money than #AKfams. The second is those in the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos who see using PFD cuts to fund govt as a way of avoiding taxes on them. buff.ly/YvR4kYR
🤷 The Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos newest ploy. Try to convince everyone that the PFD is gone anyway, so why bother defending it? #akleg
🤔 Now over 21,500 signatures. Unlike Rep. Schrage, it seems that many recognize that middle & lower-income #AKfams are already paying a significant tax in the form of PFD cuts, while the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos dodge. #akleg
Some #akleg talk about "controlling spending," but don't create the one incentive that would do it: ensure the Top20%, #OilCos & #NonRez pay some of the costs. Instead, using PFDcuts, they dump the costs on mid & lower-income #AKfams, incentivizing them to leave. #IncentivesMatter
What he did most during his time in the #akleg? Team up with Natasha von Imhof & others to cut the PFD so that the Top20%, #OilCos & #NonRez could dodge paying their fair share of govt spending.
The "free money" argument used by some to justify PFDcuts is a scam. Cutting PFDs doesn't make the "free money" go away; it just changes its use to a hidden tax credit for the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos. #akleg
🤷♂️ Bettisworth: the PFD is "free money," so cut it and divert it to subsidize the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos. They should pay something after that also, but subsidize them first. #akleg #TypicalTop20% buff.ly/Qd5GThE
Some justify #akleg PFD cuts by saying it's just "free money" anyway. But all that PFD cuts do is transfer the benefits of the "free money" to the Top20%, #NonRez & #OilCos by shielding them from taxes. #PlutoPopulists buff.ly/SUQ8Pde
🤷♂️ Maybe Adam Crum - whose Department is refusing to provide the information - doesn't want to be Governor after all and more highly values protecting the #OilCos from public scrutiny instead. #akleg buff.ly/ub79a87
