My thanks to Janet McCabe for so eloquently stating the obvious in her proposal for a state income tax. I’m a 28-year Alaska resident who has worked in education, tourism, small business, and mostly, including most recently, in the oil and gas industry. I have been advocating for a graduated income tax for years to my varied cowardly state legislators, obviously to no avail.
McCabe’s arguments were spot on, but I would like to add the implication of the plethora of out-ofstate workers who come here to work high-paying jobs (taken from Alaska residents) and take those earnings to be spent elsewhere, giving back nothing to our state. I can name a half-dozen people I work with in oil and gas who do just that. A state income tax will allow them, and all of us, to contribute to the well-being of our state.
— Mathew Cornell
Anchorage
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