Senate President Kevin Meyer should look at putting Sens. Pete Kelly and Anna MacKinnon on a shorter leash. The two Senate Finance Committee co-chairs aren\u2019t focused on identifying new sources of revenue to close the budget gap. Instead, they are clinging to a misunderstood ideology and acting like their position of power makes them much smarter than the people of Alaska.<\/p>\n
During last year\u2019s session the Republican majority avoided talking new taxes. Gov. Bill Walker didn\u2019t put any on the table either. So MacKinnon, R-Eagle River, and Kelly, R-Fairbanks, took it as a prime opportunity to work at shrinking state government to a size of their liking. They happily led a budget cutting frenzy that examined every penny in the state\u2019s multibillion-dollar budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this present crisis,\u201d President Ronald Reagan said as a precursor to his most famous 12 words, \u201cgovernment is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.\u201d What MacKinnon and Kelly should know is that our crisis is very different. And it seems they\u2019ve forgotten what part of the government the new president was railing against.<\/p>\n
On his inauguration day in 1981, Reagan was addressing an economy plagued by double digit unemployment, inflation and interest rates. Our problem is a massive shortfall of the oil tax revenue that\u2019s powered the state government for decades.<\/p>\n
Alaskans understand why this has happened. That\u2019s why two-thirds of the people polled by the Rasmuson Foundation support new revenue as part of the solution to closing the budget deficit. And 55 percent support Walker\u2019s proposal that includes an income tax and smaller dividends, while only 32 percent oppose it. <\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t just mean the public is willing to accept new taxes; we also support the role of government. And so did Reagan. In that same speech, he said, \u201cGovernment can and must provide opportunity\u201d without \u201cbarriers born of bigotry or discrimination.\u201d And he called on us to be compassionate to all Americans by lending a hand when someone falls upon hard times. <\/p>\n
To understand the context of these remarks you have to recognize the newly-elected president was intending \u201cto curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment.\u201d He never meant that government must be dismantled everywhere. Instead he wanted to give the states and their citizens more say than Washington D.C. in determining their own destiny. <\/p>\n
That had to include shifting expenses to the states, too. Our public school system is a good example. Although Reagan never shut down the federal Department of Education as he promised, if he had the costs of public education wouldn\u2019t have gone away. The work at the state and local levels would have continued \u2014 and likely grown. <\/p>\n
Sure, Reagan believed government stifled opportunity and productivity. But the full story is that it expanded under his watch. Even though he lowered the income tax burden on most Americans, he also pushed through several sizable tax increases. Mostly he presided over an increase in the federal debt that was three and half times greater than it\u2019s grown under President Barack Obama. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s why the GOP still has a national platform aimed at cutting the federal government. But as Gov. Walker and most Alaskans know, we\u2019ve about reached the limits on how much we can reduce state government. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Kelly is demanding more spending cuts before he\u2019ll consider the governor\u2019s tax proposals. \u201cWhen you begin to ask the people of Alaska to deliver the fruits of their labor,\u201d he said to reporters at a press conference on Tuesday, \u201cyou better make sure government is the right size.\u201d MacKinnon said Medicaid reform would be the first thing on her plate. <\/p>\n
Republicans in all state legislatures need to stop blaming every problem they face on the size and inefficiencies of state government. Yes, the government has problems, but Reagan\u2019s remarks the day when he moved into the White House were not at all consistent with the oversimplified creed that government at every level is our entire problem. <\/p>\n
Meyer, R-Anchorage, needs to steer Kelly and MacKinnon away from believing the state should follow that shorthand reading of the Reagan legacy. They won\u2019t help solve the budget problem hiding behind the glory of a past that never existed. But if they continue to try, they\u2019ll be remembered as the elites in Alaska\u2019s Legislature who weren\u2019t the solution to our problem. They\u2019ll be remembered as part of the problem. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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