By ROBERT SEITZ
July 27, 2026 – Two special sessions down and another one just started Monday.
It is time to realize additional taxes won’t encourage investment. Oil flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline is not sufficient for the royalties from crude oil to fill Alaska coffers enough to cover necessary expenses for the State. Now is the time to put on the thinking cap and ponder what is best for Alaska.
There are TV and radio ads that tout a Dunleavy Decline and claim that he did not provide proper leadership. For certain he did provide leadership with his fiscal plan for this year’s Legislature. He proposed a revised property tax plan that would encourage investment, and he proposed a tax plan which would be modest but tolerable as Alaska regrows its extraction industries and builds the royalty base to a viable state.
The Glenfarne proposal is out there with a request to provide a property tax relief that will not be able to over burden the AkLNG project with property taxes from the multiple towns, boroughs and municipality until there is marketable flow of LNG shipping out of Alaska to the overseas customers. The objective is to have the project to be free of encumbrances which might fully discourage investors from participating in the project.
The attempt to try to add new S corporation taxes was definitely a wrong approach. Alaska is not in a position to fund much of anything through taxation as there is not that much money flowing in our economy, as we have not had enough projects or large enough projects to bring that kind of cash flow to the State. Corporations need to have good profits so that they can finance whatever future projects they might have planned. S corporation also need to be able to accumulate cash from their business so they have funds to finance their planned projects.
Consider, that if the “clean” revised property tax bill as submitted by Gov. Dunleavy is passed and the AkLNG project is officially started contracts will be signed, orders placed and work started on the gas pipeline. Cash will begin flowing and workers will show up for work, both Alaskans and outsiders. Some of the S corporations will dust off some of their project plans that will become more viable with the progress of the AkLNG project which will enhance the economic activity as well.
The projects will last long enough to encourage some of the businesses which have closed in recent years to reopen or to be replaced by new businesses, to further boost the new economy. Then, once the S corporations are not threatened with new taxes maybe some of them will invest more in the Cook Inlet infrastructure to further increase natural gas production so that Cook Inlet gas does not need to be preceded with “declining.” Other endeavors might also be revived once the environment is more attractive to potential investors. North to a new future.
Robert Seitz is a professional electrical engineer and longtime Alaskan.
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12 thoughts on “Robert Seitz: It’s time for the Legislature to realize you can’t tax Alaska to prosperity”
Mom is a full on commie and she tried to hide it by joining the Republican Party years ago. But she is unmasked, largely due to her political donors who helped her make a comeback in the state senate. There are others like her who hide out as RINOs or Independents. But the word is now getting around. Don’t trust any of them. They are all liars with mental illness. Mom is a megalomaniac and needs senior emotional and mental therapy. It’s why I moved to Canada.
“………..It is time to realize additional taxes won’t encourage investment………..”
It’s easy to believe that communists can’t understand that basic economic reality, but they do. This isn’t about increasing tax revenue. It’s about killing the gas line.
Again.
Well said. Here’s my adjacent statement to your commentary.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudy-sobocienski-mba-a06a33292/recent-activity/all/
Nor can you cut your way to a safe, well-organized, and modern society.
You want a Socialist society. But. In your ignorance and illiteracy Hans. Socialism doesn’t stay in the Socialism system it always turns into Communism wrecking everyone where no one owns anything except the few government leaders controlling everything.
They’ll tax higher and as much as they think they need as long as Alaskans are government dependent
Alaskans are going to have to let go of budget items (whatever it is) including no more money to education and PERS/TERS while reducing state positions so less employees to pay for
To be brutally honest. Even Must Read Alaska’s contributors, Alaska Story’s Downing and contributors, and Alaska Watchman contributors and readers don’t really want the state budget to had cut items out
Because your lives will be affected by the budget reductions
Many of our own political right and conservatives (just as Democrats and leftists/socialists) are dependent on receiving government dollars in some way.
If the government legislature truly were responsible and passed not a 15 billion budget but a 6 billion budget. Both Alaskans right and left would be crying, protesting, and writing their reasons to Newspapers, Alaska Story, Must Read Alaska, Alaska Watchman for why such n such needs to stay in the budget.
You just say that you do want the state budget cut. But you really don’t.
Cutting the budget would mean accepting a harder life coming because there be less money being recycled back into the private sector. Currently we just don’t have , yet, enough private sector to provide the jobs and money to make up for the loss of government jobs and money being paid out to employees, contractors, and programs and services that makes its way back into the private sector through sales and bills paid.
I would rather the state budget cut ASAP to start the harder times NOW while the country still has money and resources to develop than wait later when we have literally have no money.
Just like it’s better to work with a bank holding your mortgage before you fall behind on your payments than after you fell behind. Because after you fell behind, there is less they can do
I vaguely remember someone here mentioning that we should cut the Guv’ment budget 25%, across the board (except for Dept of Transportation and Troopers), and Alaska would adapt just fine.
I agree that Alaska can’t tax its way to prosperity, but it also cannot continue to sell its public resources for pennies on the dollar!
This is simple. We are evolving rapidly as an archaic state government. Qualifications for running for office are the opposite of elitist in Alaska and are largely elected by who gets the best sound bite,
Regardless of elected governmental officials, talented, educated business people need to step up to serve in other capacities. Bless the AGDC’s heart, but they are made up of project engineers. I adore engineers; they want to build stuff. That does not make them experts as owner representatives of resources for negotiating. That is not their worldview, and it should not have to be.
The fact is simple: due diligence expertise needs to be brought into the Department of Revenue at the highest level. Right now, it’s founded in a “Director of Tax” mentality.
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