On Thursday, Alaska’s governor, Bill Walker released his 201 State of the Budget Address to the people of Alaska at the end of session.

Walker made known his proposal to balance the state budget with a combination of new taxes as well as oil tax reforms.

The governor said that his administration considered both a state-wide sales tax and an income tax, and ultimately decided that a state income tax would share the load more equitably.

Pointing out that Alaskans have the lowest individual tax burden in the nation and also receive an annual dividend, he proposed a “modest income tax pegged to the federal income tax: A married couple with two children earning $50,000 would pay about $15 a year. A married couple with no children earning $50,000 would pay about $200 a year,” Walker said in his address.

In addition to the modest income tax, Walker also is proposing a motor fuel tax and an increase in taxes on alcohol and tobacco in the state.

The governor also spoke on diversifying the state’s economy, saying, “We need to expand our agricultural opportunities in Alaska. We have many infrastructure projects to build, such as a gasline, underpinned financially by the Asian LNG markets. We have many capital projects across this state that need to be finished to create economic opportunity here in Alaska. We can’t expect companies to invest in Alaska if we haven’t fixed our fiscal problem.”

Also on Thursday, it was reported that Governor Walker would veto any proposal by the legislature to purchase the Legislature Information Office in Anchorage.

Last month a judge ruled that the lease extension for the building was illegal and invalid, saying that the extensive renovations done to the building by Mark Pfeffer and Bob Acree make the building subject to competitive bidding rules. The rennovations raised the lease from undder $00,000 per year to $4 million.

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