Charles, this is not a balanced column.  Raiding the Permanent Fund is never going to be acceptable to Alaskans as long as we unconstitutionally give away billions of dollars worth of oil.

Presently about $7 billion dollars worth of oil is taken tax free per year.  If oil prices went up a ten to twenty dollars per barrel, then $11  billion dollars worth of our oil would be removed, tax free on a annual basis. 

Do you see the problem?  Do you even care?

ISER has no credibility in this discussion as they've ignored the theft of the oil and the impact this is going to have on our economy.

We can agree that if we continue to give away our oil, and nearly one billion in free corporate welfare per year, Alaska will enter a recession.

Rep. Kawasaki made a very good point about all this yesterday asking what Alaskans will think if the legislature imposes new taxes which would then be given away to Big Oil in the form of Corporate welfare.