Elana Levin
Alaska’s electeds get a cold shoulder
Alaska's Governor is hiring a fancy PR firm to work on changing the public's perception of Alaska as greedy for some of the highest portions of delicious pork barrel. Rather than challenging Alaska's well earned reputation as the greedy recipient of more federal dollars than it has people, Alaska's electeds might want to consider changing, you know, their actions. How can I not be angry when Senator Stevens makes us pay $450 MILLION to support their famed bridges to nowhere (meanwhile New York's Tappan Zee Bridge, which connects somewhere and somewhere else is about to fall into the river). Its undisputable that Alaska is one of the top recipients of federal largess. So much so they don't even need to have a state income tax! I wonder if all their schools get to have toilet paper in them...
What's really sinister is that the Senators' admit this PR campaign isn't about winning over localities jealous of their largess, it is about swaying public opinion in favor of opening the Artic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
So they want me to love Alaska so they can destroy its natural beauty. That makes so much sense.
I'd go up there and give those Senators a piece of my mind, except its too darn cold out.
Elana Levin: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 10:37 AM, Feb 13, 2006 in ANRW | Federal Budget | Fiscal Responsibility
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Alaska is the state with the lowest tax burden as a percentage of per capita income -- a tax load of 6.4%. New Hampshire is next with a tax load of 7.4%. (Tax Foundation)
"Alaska tops the list, thanks to having no income and sales taxes, and to the annual refund checks it sends to residents to divvy up excess revenues collected from oil companies". Barrons February 11,2006
Not a bad deal, the lowest tax burden, annual per capita royalties, reaching if I remember correctly into the thousands of dollars even when petroleum prices hadn't skyrocketed and the largest recipient of federal pork by far. And yet there are Alaskans who hate government. Go figure
Posted by: Harry Hastings | February 14, 2006 10:33 AM