June 22, 2008
The Anchorage Daily News on Energy Costs in Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin's latest proposal for helping Alaskans with energy costs calls for anyone who has lived in Alaska at least six months to receive a $1,200 check.
That's in addition to the Permanent Fund dividend, for those eligible.
It's a simplified variation of the governor's earlier plan to send residents $100-per-month debit cards, which posed all sorts of problems, and would have cost too much to administer.
We still don't think it makes sense for the state to spend $729 million—real money, folks—on one-time payments that simply postpone the day of reckoning for Alaskans to face higher energy costs.
. . .
Besides the $1,200 giveaway, the governor proposes to suspend an 8 cent per gallon state fuel tax for a year, at a cost to the state of $40 million.
We're disappointed the state is looking at dropping a few cents per gallon of gas rather than putting some of that $40 million into public transit systems—a long-term way to reduce use of fossil fuel that could be achieved quickly.
Especially since Alaska already has the lowest gasoline tax in the nation, according to The Tax Foundation.
Maybe legislators, who are expected to take up the energy-cost relief proposals in a special session this summer, will see the folly of giving out so much cash willy-nilly, instead of spending it where it will do the most good.
