{"id":46874,"date":"2019-04-23T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-23T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/permanent-fund-dividend-still-a-major-question-mark-this-session\/"},"modified":"2019-04-24T09:43:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T17:43:03","slug":"permanent-fund-dividend-still-a-major-question-mark-this-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/permanent-fund-dividend-still-a-major-question-mark-this-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Permanent Fund Dividend still a major question mark this session"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t

Senators polished off their crystal balls Tuesday, trying to take a look at the future of the state under the governor’s budget proposal and under the Legislature’s proposal so far.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

During Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee meeting, Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, was succinct and straightforward as he broke down the major impacts of the governor’s budget versus the one passed by the House.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

While the House budget doesn’t include any new taxes for revenue, it does reduce the Permanent Fund Dividend, so it does affect household income.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

While Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget proposal keeps the PFD high<\/a>, it will result in a rise in local taxes because the budget proposal shifts many costs from the state to municipalities<\/a>. Cutting state spending for school bond debt reimbursement, for example, will require cities to raise taxes in order to fund schools at a similar level as before.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

“It’s not like either one is impact free,” Micciche said.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/a>

David Teal, Director of the Legislative Finance Division, gives his analysis of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s state budget to the Senate Finance Committee at the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)\n Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, works a calculator as he and Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, listen to public testimony on the state budget in the Senate Finance Committee hearing on Friday, April 12, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t

David Teal, the director of the Legislative Finance Division, concurred with Micciche’s diagnosis. Teal spent a little over an hour presenting to the committee about the House budget, which proposes about $250 million in cuts compared to the $1.6 billion worth of cuts governor’s proposal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

Teal said that based on Legislative Finance projections, the House budget actually addresses many of the governor’s stated budget goals better than the governor’s budget.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t

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