We are frustrated. All Alaskans are frustrated as we watch preparations for a government shutdown while our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, and family members receive layoff notices. This is no way to run a state. And what could be worse than watching this train wreck coming? Doing it all again next year. And the year after. That’s what the Republican Senate Majority plan will do. It will force us year after year to confront these same challenges with no certainty. We will lose public and private sector jobs, good teachers, University grants and students; we will lose investment; we will lose human resources that we will never know about because without a sustainable fiscal plan, how can people stay? How can young people feel comfortable about planning a life, buying a home and trying to raising a family in a place that can’t get its act together and find a sound financial footing?
As frustrating as this is, we are not without hope. In the other body of the Legislature, the House Majority has put together a plan that gives confidence to investors and to Alaskans that this is a place worthy of their time and money – a place with a durable economy where people won’t have to hold their breaths every legislative session.
Right now, legislators are playing a game of ideological “chicken.” The Senate Majority does not want to budge. Their plan is simply to cut services, use Permanent Fund earnings and hope that oil comes to the rescue to fill the gaping hole left in the budget. We can hope that oil prices go up, and hope is a lovely thing, but it’s no way to balance a budget. Even if prices rise, this plan still leaves us vulnerable to the whim of oil price swings.
How do other states do it? They have broad-based revenue sources. Until now, our revenue source has been oil, but there is only so much oil in the ground, and it’s on the decline. States without oil resources use income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, or a combination of these things to make ends meet, and pay for the services they need. Alaska is the only state in the nation that does not have a broad-based tax. And as much as we all dislike taxes, we must face the fact that in life, if you want the benefits of schools, roads, bridges, transportation, public safety, and emergency services, you have to pay your way.
The House Majority, made up of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, understands this reality of life, and their plan of oil and gas tax reform, use of a share of Permanent Fund Earnings, and a modest income tax, forges a path to a workable solution. Is it perfect? No. Is it enough to get us on the way? Yes. The House Majority gets it. Unfortunately, my colleagues in the Republican Senate Majority do not. We cannot let a rigid anti-tax, anti-government ideology; pride; and stubbornness sink our ship. If we do not agree on a sustainable, fair fiscal plan, we are doomed to repeat this dysfunctional budgetary cycle over, and over.
Recently a Republican in the House Minority said that he was not willing to trade the jobs in peril of layoffs for an unnecessary income tax. The impending shutdown will have a devastating effect on the essential state services on which Alaskans rely. And those very civil servants wondering whether they will have jobs in thirty days have been called “collateral damage” by the Senate President. The work they do on roads, fisheries, tourism, public health and safety, services to seniors and those with disabilities, have all been the focus of budget cuts.
Alaskans should not have to pay for special session after special session, they deserve to feel secure in their homes, their jobs, their children’s education, and their state. We must support what we value, pay for what we use, set aside ego and ideology for the benefit of all Alaskans.
• Sen. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage, Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, and Sen. Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, serve in the the Alaska Legislature.
