Referencing the French/Tucker Compass column (Feb. 19) and the topic of the more or less $2 billion shortfall in the state budget:
Does anyone ever stop to think that perhaps our state government has an enormous spending problem instead of a revenue income problem? Tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend! That seems to be the only language these types of people can speak. Much the same as our poorly run federal government. At every turn, someone wants to raise taxes on someone else so they can spend OPM (other people's money).
If the good people of this state make the wrong decision on SB 21 in the August election, there will eventually be one heckuva bigger shortfall than the $2 billion one we have now. You can expect that should the repeal of SB 21 pass, the billions of dollars in increased capital spending in the Alaska oil fields will be at risk of evaporating. Thus, any attempt at slowing the declining oil production will be gone too.
— GM Hefley
Anchorage