The 11th edition of the highly respected report Economic Freedom of North America has been released and it shows Alaska dropping in economic freedom. In the index Alaska ranks 48th among the 50 States.
The 2015 freedom index–this year’s data runs through 2013–attempts to measure the degree to which governments across Canada, the U.S. and Mexico restrict (or permit) economic liberty.
The top ranked State for economic freedom is New Hampshire, followed by South Dakota, Texas, Florida and Tennessee. New York finished dead last. The other least free States included California, Hawaii and New Mexico.
The freedom index is built around data compiled on such things as the size of government, laws governing labor markets, and the level and types of taxation. Within each of these major categories are ten subcategories. The higher the score, the greater the economic freedom.
The Walker Administration will surely ensure that Alaska drops to dead last in the index if all the proposed taxes, large government, and anti-Right To Work prevail. The governor has proposed 6 new taxes including a 6% state income tax.
Plus he has proposed reducing the Permanent Fund Dividend to $1,000 which is in effect a 50% tax on individuals based on the last PFD of $2,072. And he has proposed only a 2.5% cut in government spending and very little in the way of right sizing the government payroll–which is now about 22,000 including the University system.
See Full Story at Alaska Policy Forum
