Our vision is an Alaska that continuously grows prosperity by maximizing individual opportunities and freedom
By Richard Hiller and Rod Crane at Reason Foundation, in conjunction with Alaska Policy Forum This is a review of Alaska’s defined contribution retirement plan (DCR), also referred to as Tier 4, and […]
Property taxes are a significant source of revenue for states and the largest source of tax revenue for localities. Nationwide in fiscal year 2020, property taxes consisted of 38% of total U.S. state […]
by Quinn Townsend and Vance Ginn With revenue forecasts as rosy as this year’s have been, the legislature’s passage of a very large budget for fiscal year 2023 (FY 2023) comes as no […]
By Aubrey Wursten Sales tax levels and structure affect the spending habits of both companies and consumers, and states with low and simple sales tax schemes have a distinct advantage over their counterparts. […]
Authored and published by Reason Foundation. Abstract In 2005, Alaska enacted one of the most radical retirement system reforms in the public sector by discontinuing enrollment into its defined-benefit pension plan and creating […]
As is often the case, there was no shortage of bills introduced to the 32nd Legislature (which comprises 2021 and 2022). Not counting resolutions, legislators introduced 690. Those that did not pass both […]
Click here to open a printable PDF of this report in a new tab. By Sarah Montalbano and Johan Soto Introduction The National Public Education Financial Survey, annually compiled by the National Center […]
Click here to open a printable PDF of the report in a new tab. Introduction The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (DEED) has released several dashboards showing how COVID relief funds for […]
As of 2020, Anchorage faced a financial cliff of $658.7 million, leading Truth in Accounting (TIA) to label it a “sinkhole city” because the municipal government did not have enough assets to cover […]
Unemployment insurance taxes (UI taxes) have significant effects on a state’s business climate, and unfortunately, Alaska’s system ranks 43rd out of 50, according to a recent report by the Tax Foundation. UI is […]
Experts from Reason Foundation’s Pension Integrity Project recently joined us for a 45-minute discussion on the costs and risks of changes to Alaska’s pension systems. You can watch the recording here (begins 04:30), […]
Alaska has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds for education, most of which have gone straight to public school districts. Alaska Policy Forum (APF) has written extensively about […]
In 2006, the state of Alaska moved from one type of retirement system (defined benefits pension-DBP) for state employees to a 401(k)-style defined contribution retirement plan. The reason for this switch was concerns […]
Alaska has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funds, most of which have gone straight to public school districts. Collectively to date, schools have nearly $401 million in COVID-19 […]
March 25 was Alaska’s Tax Freedom Day (TFD)—the day Alaskans and businesses in Alaska had worked enough days to pay all state and local taxes for the year. This is the earliest state […]