JUNEAU – Today, Senator Bill Wielechowski (D- Anchorage) unveiled a new PFD Losses Calculator that Alaskans can use to understand the adverse impact to their family’s finances under the Senate Majority’s proposed fiscal plan. 

“I don’t think many Alaskans realize just how much the Senate Majority’s fiscal plan takes from them,” said Sen. Wielechowski. “Their plan asks nothing of Outsiders who work in Alaska and fly home without contributing anything to our local economy, or from those who visit Alaska. It asks nothing more of the oil industry, which currently enjoys some of the lowest oil taxes in the world here in Alaska. Instead, the Senate Majority seeks to balance the budget with massive cuts to PFD checks that go only to Alaska residents – working Alaskans, children, and seniors. Every Alaskan will lose an estimated $17,988 over the next ten years. An Alaskan family of four will lose $71, 952 over that time period. Imagine that effect on your children’s daycare costs, their college tuition funds, your family’s home downpayment and mortgage, or even your grocery bills. This is financially devastating to individuals, families, and to Alaska’s economy.”

Using information provided by the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Division, the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, and the Alaska Department of Revenue, Sen. Wielechowski has created an easy-to-use calculator so Alaskans can determine how much the Senate Majority’s fiscal plan will cost their families.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]Sen. Wielechowski added, “Alaskans don’t want to see schools close, troopers cut, or roads falling apart. We need to fund government, but not at the expense of the economy, or Alaskans old and young who rely on the PFD for financial stability. Alaskans are willing to chip in, but the Senate Majority’s fiscal plan is patently unfair.”

The PFD Losses Calculator will give Alaskans a clearer understanding of how the Senate Majority expects to fill the deficit – on the backs of Alaskans.

The calculator may be accessed HERE.

In addition to the PFD Losses Calculator, Sen. Wielechowski published a table of projected PFD payouts for the next ten years under current statutes compared those under the Senate Majority’s fiscal plan. The document also provides a summary of PFD losses for various family sizes. The table is attached to this release and may be found online HERE.

Unlike the phrasing of the current statute which makes PFD funding mandatory, the Senate Majority’s proposed plan also changes the wording  to make dividend funding discretionary, so the legislature could appropriate PFD funding that is less than the amount given by the proposed statute’s formula – or choose not to fund PFDs at all. Sen. Wielechowski expressed the proposed language change is “troubling.” “It puts Alaskans’ dividends at substantial risk for elimination altogether,” he said.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  Alaska, bill wielechowski, distribution, fiscal plan, loss, loss calculator, majority, pfd, senator