Alaska is at a crossroads. Our government is redefining the purpose of the Permanent Fund and the Permanent Fund Dividend. The Legislature wants us to believe that the PFD belongs to the government. This is wrong.<\/p>\n
The government is spending the PFD instead of providing you with your legal share of our public oil wealth.<\/p>\n
Misunderstanding about the Permanent Fund system is widespread. The truth is, Alaskans set up the fund as a trust belonging to all residents and funded from the wealth of our commonly-owned oil resources.<\/p>\n
We amended the Alaska Constitution so 75 percent of our oil wealth would go for government spending while saving 25 percent in the fund.<\/p>\n
The fund saves our one-time, non-renewable oil and mineral wealth for current and future generations. As Elmer Rasmuson, a former chairman of the Permanent Fund Corporation said, “The fund is a constitutional right, not a gift bestowed by a generous government.”<\/p>\n
[Permanent Fund Dividend still a major question mark this session]<\/a><\/ins><\/p>\n My father, former Gov. Walter Hickel, was not an advocate for the PFD at first. But later he saw the wisdom of the PFD, noting, “You, as a resident of Alaska, share in the ownership of 103 million acres of land, all navigable waters and the natural resources our land and water contain. It is your oil, your natural gas, your minerals, your timber, your fish. … A portion of your oil royalties are also set aside in the Permanent Fund from which you, as an owner, earn dividends.”<\/p>\n Because our public oil belongs to the people, so does the fund and the PFD. The wealth from both is derived from our oil, not taxes.<\/p>\n The government would have you believe that the PFD is a welfare program. It isn’t. It’s our share of our savings.<\/p>\n The PFD protects the fund wealth from raiding by the government. Jay Hammond and other leaders established the PFD program knowing that sharing some of the wealth in the fund via a dividend was the best way to keep the fund protected from looting.<\/p>\n