Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has asked the Legislature to suspend the State motor fuel taxes until next June, in an amendment to House Bill 104.
“With rising inflation eroding the financial bedrock of Alaskan homes and businesses, something must be done to alleviate the economic hardship facing our state,” wrote Dunleavy in his letter to the House.
Under State statute, a tax of .08 cents a gallon is levied on all motor fuel sold or transferred within the state, and smaller taxes are levied on fuel for aviation and watercraft.
Oil prices have skyrocketed since Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine began more than two weeks ago and have destabilized global energy markets, which in turn have increased oil tax revenues for the State.
“The misery wrought from these worldwide events is, indirectly, propelling the revenues to Alaska’s State government,” Dunleavy wrote. “Oil prices are at record levels, and, unlike the high oil price environment of 2007-2014, this climb is occurring with concurrent increases in all costs of living. The transfer of wealth from Alaskans to the State Treasury must have some equitability restored to it.”
“This amendment would immediately suspend the collection of tax on motor and marine fuels, aviation gas, and aviation jet fuel until June 30, 2023. This action, if approved by the Legislature, would bring direct tax relief at the gas pump for Alaskan families and businesses and help contain the costs of goods shipped within the state,” he wrote.
Some of the proceeds from the fuel tax are for State Dept. of Transportation expenditures or matches for federal highway funds for maintenance of highways, construction of highways and ferries.
Last year, the Alaska House Transportation Committee state voted to double the 8-cent fuel tax to 16 cents, and to also increase the .95-cent surcharge that is added to the tax.
That eight cents is not much, and will make little difference. However, there is a statutory requirement to pay us our PFDs , in full.
This year’s excuse to not pay the full, if any, dividend will be because they needed the money to fill government fuel tanks.
Appears to be .16 cents according to the write up since they doubled it last year, also wonder if the .95 cents would be dropped for the short time too.
They did not double it last year. There was a bill to do that (HB104), since the fuel tax had not been increased since 1970 and was well short of providing the money necessary to match Federal highway, port, and airport money. That bill had not passed and has now had the increase stripped from it.
Reinstate the PFD payouts to what they were before the snakes in the legislature raided it and continue to raid it, to say this state needs to tax anything is ludicrous, especially now with the records the PFD is breaking, take it a step further and drop the marijuana, alcohol and tobacco tax, property tax is another issue that’s literally outrageous especially now that Brandon has inflation going through the roof. 8 cents wont make a dammed dent in my pocket, take it further where it matters.
With oil going for over $100 per bbl Alaskans should not be paying any taxes for fuel. Not to get off topic but I have been reading/hearing a phrase I find confusing…”Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.” Has there ever been a legal war? Legal killing of civilians? Legal bombings of hospitals? Just wondering.
Most people don’t know the history of Ukraine and are therefore duped by the images and the one line headlines on the MSM. There is good information out about this but social media is now trying to shut it down. Of course truth interferes with their spoon fed narratives that they and the Biden regime want everyone to believe which is that Putin is THE aggressor. Nevermind the other players, the NGOs, the US bio labs, and more. Biden is and the govt run media is using propoganda against Americans to convince them this is only about Putin so they can distance themselves from their own sins.
Thank you K Jones. There is far more to this story than what the media wants us to think and believe. This is a war that America must not get sucked into by the military industrial complex nor by New World Order to protect their interests (nor the interests of Biden, Pelosi, Romney and others who have a vested interest in maintaining the most corrupt government in Europe).
There’s a whole lot of Russian State run propaganda out there too, sadly many Americans believe it just because it’s a contrary view to what the media in the US presents, even worse it gets repeated here frequently.
Trig full dividends it’s our right thank you trig here that Alaskans and. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO to our governor the oath breaker. Oath integrity full dividend checks give to the citizens what’s the citizens government and to GOD what is GODS oath integrity government.
Next up: calls for a state income tax because the fuel tax doesn’t cover highway maintenance costs.
Why should they start listening to him now? He wet the bed so badly in Wasilla his tenure died right there.
MA, I’m probably tinkling in the wind, but here goes. What exactly should he have done when Giessel and company declined to show up in Wasilla? I’m not trying to be confrontational, I’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts. Answers like “take a stand,” or “show some courage” don’t count. With so many union sock puppets in the legislature, and a judiciary that functions as an arm of the Democratic party, it seems like Dunleavy has had the deck stacked against him from minute one.
Scott, you hit the nail right on the head. When you add in the sabotage by Walker allies in the legislature, as well as the so-called recall campaign steered by Walker aid Scott Kendall, it is a wonder Dunleavy got anything done at all. All you have to do is check the “co-chairs” in Walker’s campaign that include Bryce Edgmon, who controls quite a few of the house members. Dunleavy called four extra sessions last year to try to get the PFD issue settled. According to State Senator Bert Stedman, Senate Finance co-chair, there is no chance that the legislature would pass something that would diminish its perceived authority. So add to the things that should be changed in the constitution is having the constitutional amendments go through the legislature. They are way too busy guarding their perceived turf to do what is necessary. Better to have the signatures gathered and the public vote directly on them. Might get a few unwanted ones to vote on, but at least the proposals would make it to the ballot box.
Called the troopers to go get them. Fight it out in court if necessary.
Refused to resend the call and let them got to Wasilla.
Hit the stump and travel to every nook and corner of Alaska exhorting people to put pressure on their representatives.
Threaten to furlough state workers until they came.
Veto the whole damn budget. Even if they override it.
Find every nook and cranny in his powers to cut (legally) their budgets or budgets important to them.
Another governor, I’d have rebuttaled “take a stand and show courage” is a valid tool in leadership. If you’ve ever managed people, you know staff respond to how you present yourself. But the Cowardly Lion is an empty suit and doesn’t have it in him.
It’s not that he fought hard and lost. He pissed his pants and never really tried.
Politics is an ugly business. The Democrats are great at it. The Tuckerman Babcock Republicans are like the French. All they are good at is capitulation.
Take it back to middle school playground. There are always bullies who push around and intimidate people they know are weak suits (Dunleavy).
If you want to be respected, if you want the bullying to stop, sooner or later you must stand and fight. Hard. Even if you lose, you win by proving you’re not a pushover.
Bullies thrive on weakness and fear. That’s Dunleavy in abundance.
It’s made worse that he ran as a big tough guy ready to do battle for Alaska. He exposed himself as a failure and political coward.
Dunleavy has never done that. He hid behind Ben Stevens and has never come out.
If my choices are Dunleavy or Walker, I will vote a third option.
I’ll vote for you before I ever vote for Dunleavy again.
Recap: it’s not that he lost a hard fight. He ran, hid, and never tried.
MA, your reply has changed my impression of you. You should leave these kinds of comments more often. I’m not sure that the scorched earth stuff would have accomplished much except for Dunleavy’s rapid ouster, the political equivalent of a kamikaze mission. However, you certainly have a point about the bully pulpit. He seemed to largely withdraw from the fight, stop explaining and preaching, and instead tried to cultivate a moderate image. That was a mistake. Time will tell whether this strategy gets him reelected, but it certainly alienated much of his base. I’m hoping the end result isn’t a repeat of the 1994 election, which gave us 2 terms of Tony Knowles.
TMA, that is an outstanding synopsis of what could have and should have been with Governor Stands Slouched!
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Why does almost NOBODY seem to notice that when radical leftists advance similarly “impractical” and “scorched earth” tactics, they may well end up losing that particular political battle, but they invariably end up moving the political playing field in the process? Why does that process have to be a one-way (and leftward) street?
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My thumbs up was a “reply” to Trig’s comment. Don’t know why it is placed at the bottom of all comments.
Brandon and his entourage have caused this whole fiasco!! Plain and simple. And he wants to blame anybody and everybody else. Let’s Go Brandon!!!
Or may Putin. Seems like he bears some responsibility.
As soon as Biden took office and signed his first EO against the American people, gas prices started rising and have continued to rise ever since. Biden could not have signed this EO at a worse time but he bowed to people like AOC and the liberal lunatics. The Ukraine war is only adding to the problem now. If you want to know what gas prices were when Biden took office and see the continuous climb, go to gasbuddy.com/charts. Its in black and white.
Nothing to do with this being an election year.
Eight cents a gallon is chump change, Dunleavy. Grow a set and put some real pressure on the legislature to FULLY fund the PFD as written in statute!
As things get worse a lot of Alaskans will start Placer mining and subsistence hunting. Good thing the state regulations already allow for this.
It’s a worthy idea, but won’t change my vote. It’s zink that is under my skin.
The covid shot is dangerous and the recent data shows it. Conveniently the Russian War and fuel costs have been a distraction to forced dangerous injections.
We can now see, thanks to the judge that forced the release of Pfizer documents there were adverse events during the trial. Also, the whistleblower at one of the Pfizer trial sites tried to warn the FDA about the “unblinding” of the trial participants. Of course the same day she complained, she was fired. Interesting though that her story is getting some traction on wall street of all places. The Biden regime is using the Ukraine war as cover, Fauci has gone somewhere and Welensky is now at speaking engagements backtracking on former comments she has made.
Looks more and more like we have a lot of work to do at the constitutional convention. Term limits, PFD, School vouchers, commercial fishing, agriculture, moving the capitol, election integrity, on and on. Let’s everybody get involved so these politicians can’t hijack the process.
I’d love for Suzanne to have an open thread on what “we the people” want in the Constitutional Convention.
Lots of our feckless politicians read this forum. They need to see what we want and expect. If we’re not careful, the Zack Fields, Josh Revacks, and Bert Steadman’s will find a way to steal this from us.
Natural Alaskan, The one thing that we need to change… The Judicial Council! Our method of choosing Judges is partisan and abhorrent. Make Judges accountable to the law and to the people.
Absolutely true and well said, OTA!
Yes. Legal is a technical term, not a moral one. If lawmakers pass a law to say it is legal, then it qualifies as such.
Any excuse is a good excuse for the oil companies to raise prices, this one just happens to be a war in a country on the other side of the planet,
Constitutional convention, new governor and new medical officer and dump adam crum while your at it. Another no guts beaurocrat. Full pfd, dump Juneau as capitol. If it were in Anch or willow where it should be…..i bet halls would have been packed the last 2 years. People are angry and tired of being spat on by pompous self serving individuals. No faith at all in our govt. Zero trust. They lost it and must earn it back. Period
Why do Alaskans feel like everything is owed to them? If I have a bad tourist season…. federal money. I didn’t catch any fish… federal money. It snows to much….. federal money. Of your indigenous… federal funds for everything. Why can’t Alaskans flip their own bill?
Ah yes, we must have equitable transfers of wealth.
Alaska.. home of the federal handouts
$0.08 cents……….what’s that ?
About 4 days before that’s surpassed PLUS an additional dime.
The Leftist House loves high gas prices. More money for government spending, less money for We The People.
It’s 8c that will just go to the retailers. Pump price won’t change.
That has always been the pattern in the past. Further evidence is big grocery raising the price of on- hand stock. Their warehouses are heavy with stock purchased prior to the price hikes, so this is a bonanza for corporate America, and a fleecing for the average Americans.
Is gasoline tax a sin tax? Inquiring minds in a state flush with oil tax dollars wanna know.
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