This Dividend Is A Pleasant Rite Of October

Gov. Sean Parnell and Commissioner of Revenue Bryan Butcher will tell us the amount of the 2011 Permanent Fund dividend this morning. This will be the 30th consecutive year that the state has paid to each qualified Alaskan an individual share of the earnings from the state's oil wealth fund. Thirty years and more than $32,000 (not counting this year) if you've qualified for all of them. Since 1982, Alaska has paid out more than $18 billion to its residents. And that doesn't count the resource rebate of $1,200 in 2008.

This is still a jaw-dropper for our neighbors Outside, especially in these days of high unemployment and uncertainty, widespread layoffs and state governments scrambling to maintain services as they cut. Alaska has no state income tax, no state sales tax, reasonable vehicle licensing fees -- and on top of that we send each legal resident from toddler to tottering a yearly check just for being a legal resident. It's amazing, isn't it? But those of us who have lived here for some years tend to get used to it. The dividend seems normal, a pleasant rite of October.

Source: The Anchorage Daily News

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