The Weekly Top 3 (2.16.2026)
from The Weekly Top 3 Hosted by Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets
Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of February 16, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what the House Finance Committee is up to with its recent actions on the PFD (2:16), 2) we explain how recent data from the Permanent Fund Corporation itself demonstrates why the goal of the proposed one-account Permanent Fund Constitutional amendment is to open a back door into the Permanent Fund corpus (16:22), and 3) we discuss our comparison of the impact of PFD cuts and the Governor's proposed sales taxes by legislative district and how it shows that, in virtually all of them, using a sales tax leaves more money in the pockets of the median Alaska household (36:35). The Weekly Top 3 is a regular weekly segment on The Michael Dukes Show. The Show broadcasts on Facebook and YouTubeLive as well as via streaming audio from the Show’s website weekdays from 6–8am. We join Michael weekly in the first hour of Tuesday’s show, from 6:25–7am, for a discussion between the two of us about our three issues.
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What this episode covers
Welcome to The Weekly Top 3 - our look at the top 3 things on our mind here at Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets - for the week of February 16, 2026. This week, our top 3 issues are these: 1) we discuss what the House Finance Committee is up to with its recent actions on the PFD (2:16), 2) we explain how recent data from the Permanent Fund Corporation itself demonstrates why the goal of the proposed one-account Permanent Fund Constitutional amendment is to open a back door into the Permanent ...
Chapters
- 0:00 Welcome & This Week’s Top Three
- 2:34 Why House Finance Zeroed The PFD
- 7:50 Creating “Surplus” To Justify New Spending
- 13:05 Revenue Plans, Head Tax, And Short-Termism
- 19:30 The 5% Draw And Backdoor To Corpus
- 26:10 Real vs Nominal Returns And Inflation Proofing
- 31:45 Constitutional Risks And Spending Expectations
- 36:45 Who Pays: After The PFD, Then “Everyone”
- 42:15 Sales Tax vs PFD Cuts By District
- 48:10 Why Lawmakers Resist A Sales Tax Swap
- 52:30 Five-Year Outlook And Political Will
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