The Tax rebate is not the same as the oil money...
You guys must mean these payments....which didn't start being paid until 1982...and reached a high in 2000....not the 80's:
Alaska residents will get annual oil royalty dividend of $1,654 each
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
JUNEAU, Alaska: Nearly every Alaskan will soon receive a check for $1,654 their share of the state's oil riches, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced.
The dividend checks are derived from the state's oil royalty investment program and distributed each year to eligible residents ? just for living here for a full calendar year.
Slightly more than 600,000 men, women and children in 248 communities will receive the dividend this year, according to the Revenue Department. The state's estimated population is just over 670,000 people.
Anyone who has lived in Alaska for a full calendar year can apply for the money ? including children. Of those receiving checks this year, about 41 percent ? or 244,695 of the state's residents ? were born in Alaska.
"I want you guys to invest this wisely," Palin told the large crowd that gathered Wednesday for the announcement of this year's dividend in Valdez, the terminus of the state's 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) trans-Alaska oil pipeline.
It is a perk that separates Alaska from the rest of the U.S. and was recently parodied in "The Simpsons Movie," which prominently features the television cartoon family's journey to Alaska.
The movie depicts Alaska almost as a separate country. As Homer Simpson crosses the border with Canada, he's greeted by a customs agent who says, "Welcome to Alaska," then hands Homer a wad of cash, saying every Alaskan gets a stack of bills so oil companies can exploit the environment.
But for many residents, the check is no joke.
It means getting caught up on bills and supplementing income that for some is a week-to-week living in Alaska, where the cost of living is high due in part because of its distance from shipping centers in other parts of the United States.
In Galena, a town of 600 residents located 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Fairbanks, air taxi pilot Colin Brown pilot said the money will help cover rising fuel costs that have beset the state's isolated rural villages. Brown says he pays about $4.70 for a gallon of gasoline, about $2 per gallon more than national average, according to the Energy Department's most recent data.
Others use the bonus to supplement their subsistent lifestyles.
"A lot of times village people will spend it on fishnets to renew their equipment that's worn out," he said.
The state established the Alaska Permanent Fund in 1976 after North Slope oil was discovered. Dividends have been paid since 1982, ranging from $331 to a record high of $1,963 in 2000. Last year's dividend check was $1,106.
The fund is valued at a near-record $38.7 billion (?27.69 billion), with total returns at 17.1 percent in the fiscal year that ended June 30. In the last fiscal year, the fund earned $622,000 an hour.
Dividend totals are not directly tied to the fund's total value or robust oil prices, said fund spokeswoman Laura Achee. Oil prices, which topped $80 a barrel this week, can boost the fund's principal, but the money must be invested. Payouts then get calculated on a five-year average of investment income.
The fund's stock investments include high-profile brands such as Pepsico Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc., along with North Slope oil producers Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and BP PLC.
More than $15.2 billion (?10.88 billion) has been distributed to eligible residents since the dividend program began, five years after oil began flowing in the state's pipeline 30 years ago.
If a resident has received a check every year since the first was issued in 1982, their total take in the program would be $27,536.
Alaska residents will get annual oil royalty dividend of $1,654 each - International Herald Tribune
Heres the tax info:
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
THE $1200 ALASKA RESOURCE REBATE
What a remarkable thing. Our legislature is "giving" everyone in Alaska who receives a Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) an extra $1200 to be added to the coming PFD, which itself may exceed $2000. It started out as an “energy” rebate – and ended up as a “resource” rebate. Near as I can figure, if it’s an “energy” rebate, bush Alaskans who pay for more energy could try to justify a larger rebate. If it’s a “resource” rebate, everyone should get the same amount. It’s the same amount of money disingeniously dressed in different language. Ahh, the magic of language!
The cost of the rebate is $744 million, whatever you call it. This is a one-time,
repeat, one-time rebate, aimed at sharing some of the revenue windfall money generated by record high crude oil prices. And yes, some of the windfall
has, in fact, been saved.
Some Alaskans state they don’t need or
want the rebate. Good for them. I recommend they gave their $1200 to worthy charities or a hungry family. Others say wealthy Alaskans shouldn’t get the rebate money because they don’t need it – but these are the same wealthy people who pay more taxes than the rest of us. If someone makes more money than me, good for them.
Many are saying that too many Alaskans will squander their $1200 rebate on big screen TVs, or something else others calls "frivolous." Probably true. But it’s
not my business as a legislator, to tell
you how you must spend
your money. It’s your money, not mine! Furthermore, however you spend your money, it’ll spur the Alaska economy thereby helping keep people employed.
I’m hearing from folks who complain that homes with a large number of children, will get substantially more than childless families or the “ideal” (in some people’s opinion) family of 2.5 children. Remember, it’s a “resource” rebate to consumers - not money to heat a household. Children are consumers too (big time).
Several Alaskans (including a couple in my own family) are upset that only current PFD recipients will receive the $1200 rebate. The governor’s original plan was also to include Alaskans for the rebate who have been residents for at least six months. It's understandable that those who, through no fault of their own, miss out on the rebate are upset. But it would be a very expensive and impractical process to hire application inspectors to administer a one-time rebate. The PFD verification process and the employees that administer it, are already in place. Limiting the rebate to PFD recepients is probably “not fair” but, in practicality, a line must be drawn at some point.
The Alaska tax of 8 cents is also being extended for one year. It’s not much, but every little bit helps. Fuel is outrageously expensive. I can verify that, having just used my Suburban to haul my RV trailer where I lived during special session back home from Juneau! This gasoline tax relief will help people to afford going to work, as well as commercial drivers all over the state. Predictably, some complain that Alaska already has the lowest fuel tax in the US, so we should keep the tax. Frankly, I don’t care how it’s done outside Alaska.
Extra help, in fact,
was given to lower the cost of electricity in rural communities with a timely a revision to the power cost equalization (PCE) program.
And yes, I
did vote “
Yes” for the rebate and “
Yes” for suspending the gasoline tax.
Blogs by Rep Bob Lynn: THE $1200 ALASKA RESOURCE REBATE
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