The Alaska Permanent Fund reached a new milestone last week, closing at an all-time high of $83,384,400,000 on Thursday. The figure, published by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, surpasses the fund’s previous record of $82.1 billion set on Dec. 7, 2021.
The Permanent Fund, managed by the APFC, is a state-owned sovereign investment fund established in 1976 by a constitutional amendment approved by Alaska voters. Its purpose is to invest a portion of the state’s oil revenues to benefit current and future generations of Alaskans.
The fund receives a constitutionally mandated deposit of at least 25% of all mineral lease royalties collected by the state, and its earnings have become a major source of revenue for both the state government and the annual Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) paid to Alaska residents, since Alaskans are not able to own the subsurface mineral rights on their own properties.
Despite the record-high fund value, Alaskans can expect a relatively small dividend in 2025 of $1,000. While the Permanent Fund has grown through long-term investment strategies and market gains, most of the annual draw from the fund’s earnings reserve, set by a statutory percent of market value formula, is being drained off for government spending this year after the Legislature opted to allocate the bulk of the earnings to balance the state budget, leaving only a modest amount for Alaskans.
This year, the Legislature took 85% of the available earnings from the fund for government spending, whereas before 2016, when former Gov. Bill Walker first vetoed half of the Permanent Fund dividends, the split was 50-50, an formula that is still on the books in statute, but that has not been honored since 2016.
The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation operates independently under a board of trustees tasked with managing the fund’s investments across a portfolio that includes public equities, private equity, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, and other alternative assets. The principal and earnings reserve account vary from day to day but has generally remained over $80 billion for the past year.
The fund’s record high comes amid the public debate over the size of state government and the future of the PFD itself.
Put it to a plebiscite
Christmas came early for Alaskan democrats and rhinos!
Senator Lisa Murcowski is Alaskas most major Rhino
The PFD will be used to indemnify public sector unions. It was a good run. Start saying your good byes.
“[S]ince Alaskans are not able to own the subsurface mineral rights on their own properties.”
If they don’t have to follow the law, why does anyone else?
The public is noticing this & in ANC it happens daily, right in front of our eyes …. People not following the law.
A slight correction is in order here. If you own patented mineral claims you own the subsurface estate and anything down there.
The Alaska State Government has turned the Permanent Fund into their own USAID.
Someone was paying attention to the scheme in Washington DC and thought Hey! What an idea! Who knows where the money really goes? Seen a audit recently?
Does that mean the State has to pay to pump my septic tank? Or will they just tax it to add to the PF so they can steal more to spend…
In Saudi Arabia they cut off hands of thieves – we want what is ours legislature thieves
This was never supposed to be used for ANYTHING but giving back to Alaskans by Jay Hammond! This is ours not the state budget! Wtf Dunleavy???
If you recall…It’s not exactly Dunleavy’s fault…Remember Bill Walker ..He’s the “Dumb” jackass who changed it..
The world is out of control and it is beyond fixing. Humans are the root of every problem on this planet. Mother Earth will survive, we will not.
How do you figure it’s Dunleavy? He budgeted for a full PFD. It’s the liberal pucks you dip shi*s keep electing for Juneo that take it away to fund their feel good agenda.
That is not on Dunleavy, he has been a fighter for Alaskans and their PFD from the start.
Why has he not been out everyday screaming at the idiots in Juneau to make it happen. Running and being elected to protect the PFD and just putting it in his budget, then sticking his head in the sand, Is being a coward. Just another weak so called Republican. Alaska’s best days have passed, we are the newest addition to the left coast. Fighter he is not.
The legislature is above the Alaska statutory law, since they make the law. 50/50 is no more, 85/15 split this year, next year will be 95/5, all in the name of balancing the budget. Majority of voters that bother to vote are not upset about it now and won’t be in the future.
Shoulder shrug, business as usual down in Juneau. No political consequences when it comes to raiding the earnings for the PFD. Beatings will continue until morale is improved.
If we want to get our Permanent Fund back we need to get rid of ALL Democrats!! They are nothing but leeches, greedy, selfish and money hungry parasites!!!
It’s truly not only the Dems. Half the damn Republicans refuse to make the decisions necessary to balance the budget with available income without stealing our lawful portion
It’s the Democrats who decided to take away a good portion of our Permanent Fund and from there the rest of them followed suit!! Remember Walker!? The Democrat that disguised himself as an Independent!? That is what I have seen many Democrats do in order to make themselves look like Republicans, then once they get in they screw the people!!
Looks to me like it’s hitting a new low
Oh wait, inflation has diluted the true value of the Permanent Fund well below the previous high.
The Dividend might as well end now so that the earnings can be rolled back into the corpus for inflation proofing.
Alternatively, the Dividends should be given only to qualified tax-exempt savings plans (like a 401k or education fund). That would lessen the amount that is spent on booze and drugs, encourage savings, and prevent Uncle Sam from getting their cut at your highest marginal tax rate.
It was a dividend, a payout to a shareholder from the proceeds of the fund. Now it’s an allocation from the largesse of our state congress. Is that a gift? If it is a gift, perhaps we shouldn’t be paying federal income taxes on it? Just a thought.
How bout no. The government has no business telling you what to do with your money.
Spot on!
Goodbye PFD, hello income tax, they only need little more money.
Again.
To help us with services we need, like …
You k ow⅝
“……Goodbye PFD, hello income tax……..”
If it’s going to happen, it had better be in that order.
Everyone needs to thank Walker and the Mallot for the “New Deal”
Where’s my back pay for stolen dividends?
“……. since Alaskans are not able to own the subsurface mineral rights on their own properties…….”
This is a crock. How do Native corporations do it? Who owns tge minerals coming out of Red Dog? Is NANA paying us?
Thanks for pointing this out. Patented land parcels also own subsurface right within those parcel boundaries.
We’re getting screwed no matter what. Dunleavey your campaign speech included giving back what what was taken in prior years. So give it back. It is not our responsibility to fix whst the government messed up. You all need to take paycuts and quit spending on bullsh*t. Give alaskans what is ours past and present.
It’s not Dunleavy doing this, the RINOs and Democrats keep overruling him he’s the Governor not a dictator.
I mean, since the whole idea was to have the PF fully fund the state governments, seems like a step in the right direction
I’d rather have the PF funds road maintenance and schools than property taxes myself
Noooooo. It was to PREVENT the government from spending it.
That’s a nice sentiment Dave. However you need to consider that governance is like a cancer. It eats the productive parts and therefore destroys itself eventually. Taxes will follow soon enough after it’s all gone. Give government a dollar and it’ll demand more from you when that’s gone.
Our $1,000 dividend equates roughly to a 0.8% rate of return. I earn more in a checking account.
Elected people and the bureaucratic sycophants enabling this BS make the law then disregard the same law they made. Then refuse to enforce the law, except of course when it benefits the State. Sounds like lawlessness and corruption to me. Try that the next time you have a contact with law enforcement. “I just disregard that law”.
Why not just give everyone a one time $50k payout and then the state can have it all after that? We’re loosing it anyway.
A 50k payout sounds like a good idea; invested wisely it could be a secure income sourse for each citizen’s future; MAYBE?
People have been proposing that since the pfd was first implemented. We have the Zobels for effing that up as they didnt think it was fair that the payout would only go to people who have lived in the state for far more than 1 year. I believe it was proposed as paying out only to people who had lived here since 1981 – or something like that.
WE keep re-electing the same big spenders, so what do you expect? Make protecting the PFD a litmus test for all candidates.
All they do is steal money. Vote everyone out.
Spending is what Democrat legislators do. They suppose everyone’s money is theirs to do as they see fit. Notice what happened to the once bountiful California. It’s amazing that people vote themselves into a downward spiral repeatedly.
Just imagine how big the Permanent Fund corpus would be now had this society not withdrawn $21 billion and spent it on garbage and all that money had been earning compounding returns for the past 45 years.
This is great news for the legislature. More money for them to spend and almost assures the rest of us for that gracious $1,000.00 PFD!
Yeah the fund is higher than it’s ever been and the dividend is lower than it’s ever been that’s our government at work or maybe not at work