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5.2 New Revenues to Fill the Fiscal Gap

Any solution to the fiscal gap problem will require new revenue sources. Here is a long list of potential sources, but with the exception of a broad-based personal income or sales tax or use of some of the earnings of the Permanent Fund, none have much near-term revenue-generating power. Only additional oil revenues could produce more than $100 million a year in the short run, but this would probably reduce oil revenues in future years because it would reduce the profitability of new investments.

The fiscal gap is a problem we must face today. Potential revenues from construction of a gas pipeline or the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) are too far in the future to help, and their revenue-generating power, taken together, would not be enough to get the job done.

A new revenue source that really helps to close the fiscal gap must be BIG, SUSTAINABLE, and AVAILABLE.

• 1 Personal income tax
• 2 Broad-based sales tax
• 3 Seasonal sales tax
• 4 Other sales and use taxes
• 5 School tax
• 6 Vehicle tax
• 7 Motor fuel tax
• 8 Alcohol tax
• 9 Tobacco products tax
• 10 Cruise ship tax
• 11 Lottery
• 12 Permanent Fund unused earnings
• 13 Permanent Fund inflation proofing
• 14 Sale of land
• 15 Sale of other assets
• 16 Oil: the economic limit factor
• 17 Oil: a reserves tax
• 18 Oil: windfall profits tax
• 19 Oil: separate accounting
• 20 Oil: hedging
• 21 Oil: higher prices
• 22 Oil: increase supply
• 23 Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• 24 The Gas Pipeline
• 25 Revenues from other natural resources
• 26 Nonpetroleum corporate income tax

   

Fiscal Policy Papers