When the clock strikes midnight, one of the first thing many Alaskans do is have a glass of champagne — and then file for their share of the oil wealth in Alaska — their Alaska Permanent Fund dividend.
The link the PFD application is here. Or go to your MyAlaska.gov page, if you have an existing account with the State. The dividend is generally issued each October for qualified applications, which must be received by the Alaska Permanent Fund Division no later than March 31, 2022.
The Permanent Fund dividend was created by statute in 1980, as a way to share the royalties of the oil with Alaskans, none of whom has the ability to own subsurface rights. After a court delay regarding the residency formula for the dividend, the first dividend was issued on June 14, 1982 to all Alaskans who had been residents for six months or more. Later, by statute, the residency was changed to one year.
The statutory formula for the fund worked for decades until in 2017, when former Gov. Bill Walker vetoed half of the people’s PFD, preserving it in the Earnings Reserve Account of the Permanent Fund. He said the money was needed to pay for government but, in fact, it was not spent on government. It was simply retained in the fund. He issued a dividend that year, using political calculations rather than statutory calculations, and Alaskans got $1,000, half of the 2015 payout.
To understand the loss of value of that $1,000 through time and inflation, Alaskans would need to receive about $2,881 in their dividends today to equal what that $1,000 was to them in 1982.
Every year since the Walker half-dividend, the Alaska Legislature has followed his path, taking over half of the people’s money for government or to just leave in the Earnings Reserve Account, which currently has more than $15.7 billion, with $8.9 billion of it uncommitted. The fund itself has over $83 billion in it.
In 2017, the Legislature and Gov. Walker also passed Senate Bill 26, and created a new way to draw down funds from the ERA to pay for state government. The Legislature has never fixed the remaining problem, which is that the previous statutory formula is a state law that the Legislature has broken every year since Walker’s fateful move to take the funds from Alaskans’ wallets as what is arguably the most regressive tax in America.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has tried to restore the full statutory dividend to Alaskans but has run into headwinds with the Alaska Legislature every year of his governorship. Again in 2022, he will attempt to restore the other half of this year’s dividend to Alaskans, through a supplemental budget request he will make to the Legislature.
What are your thoughts on the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend? Leave them in the comment section below.
Every Alaskan knows we could have spent those stolen 1/2 dividends more wisely than the State has ever since sequestering much of it in the Earnings Reserve since 2017. Some families are owed literally tens of thousands of dollars currently being taxed out of our hands by the Legislature. I no longer believe there is justice for anyone–the Legislature is largely a lawless body and many of them and former governor Walker should be in jail.
What dividend?
That is precisely the question that everyone will be asking within a year or two, after the stock market drops 50-80%, and necessarily takes the value of the Permanent Fund down with it.
I want my full dividend back!
Anyone that thinks the individual living here doesn’t need it, isn’t living in poverty. The PFD get Alaskan’s through every year with heating costs, electricity costs, vehicle repairs, and providing a decent Christmas to their families. If the PFD goes, I go.
Anyone that believes they don’t need their’s can go right ahead and Pick, Click, Give.
PFD theft is the single biggest issue for Republicans. Mike Dunleavy totally failed to get it done. He could have threatened aggressive line item vetos for legislators which voted against the PFD, but he failed to do so. Standing down and bending over seems to be his strategy. Do not rank this failed governor, vote Kurka and Kurka only
Yeah, cuz wasting your ballot is a good idea.
The only REAL wasted vote is the one that leads to a continuation of the current disastrous and freedom-destroying governmental policies, namely, another vote for the status-quo.
Long may she last. Good cheer and good luck Alaskans. Best wishes to you in the new year.
Stop the steal. Full statutory PFD to every qualifying Alaskan. Having seen Senator Stedman’s budget spreadsheet, I can attest that the State spends too much and that there is room to cut more. And BTW, appropriating less than what was asked for by the bureaucracies is NOT a budget cut – that foolish bit of smoke and mirrors is how State spending grows while the Legislators claim they “cut the budget.” Next, we need to rebel against federal oppression – we are a State, not a colony – pump more oil, fill the pipeline. At Senator Stedman’s admission, if we add even 20% to the current pipeline throughput, budget “woes” go away – and that was at early October oil prices, which have climbed since. The Legislature has no excuse to break the law and fail to pay the full PFD plus the back PFD owed with interest – the money is there. No new taxes. Stop the steal.
Stedman is even more of a RINO than Lisa. He’s more liberal than many Democrat senators
“$8.9 billion of it uncommitted”. It’s not even drawing interest? Maybe minimal bank interest at best?
–
15.7b in the SRA. Over 83b in the PF. Include all the monies stashed away in various state accounts. Sounds like Alaska has over 100 billion doing whatever, or nothing at all.
–
Then they have the gall to poor-mouth us over the PFD, while enriching everyone else. Even worse, the voters who put them there call it good. What evils has the real Alaskan’s done to be so cursed? Even if we’re not actually cursed, it really looks that way.
Rescind POMV and return to the statutory formula, no if, and’s or buts! And enshrine it constitutionally.
Thank goodness! Maybe if I combine all my families PFD’s together Ill be able to fill my gas tank with enough left over to buy a loaf of bread.
Oh, but we’re “greedy and entitled”, says princess hissy fit. Never forget Natasha.
I need that money! And so do my relatives. Our represenatives are just hostile to their constituents and their rights and property rights. They are just nasty to us. Out they go! Out! Out! Out!
Remove this comment. It is impermissible.
Thank you Suzanne for this information, please keep these articles coming. The PFD may be the single issue that provides the impetus for the sorely needed constitutional convention. If Alaska actually sold our oil for the same price as the rest of the world, the fund would probably be worth $300 billion or more, with dividends over $7,000.
Great news all you Conservatives and Libertarians! Time to line up yet again for your slice of Alaska’s Universal Basic Income, brought to you by the Big Government you so ardently detest. Isn’t free money great (when you’re the one getting it)?
Don’t delay now, because as every good Alaska knows, the earlier you apply, the sooner you get your cash.
Oh, it’s not enough? Not your “fair share”? Boo hoo.
I have to quit reading your posts Dog. You’re starting to harm my health.
Dog’s right. The PFD is pure socialism.
Where do you live Whidbey? Delaware? Alaskans have had mineral rights or opportunity for private wealth stripped from their property rights. PFD property rights are not “free money”. In the name of Jesus stop lying about this.
As of 7:30 am, Saturday, the PFD application page is not working.
The site is working as of 9:30 am, Saturday.
Comments are closed.