The Alaska Permanent Fund, established using revenues paid to the state by oil and natural gas producers, provides Alaska residents with an annual cash dividend, which is unique among natural resource permanent funds in the United States . In 2014, the annual dividend was $1,884 per resident, more than double the 2013 dividend and the highest since 2008. All Alaska residents receive an annual cash dividend from the permanent fund. The fund was established by voters in 1976, as the extent of Alaska’s oil and natural gas resources began to emerge, and retains at least 25% of the royalties that oil and natural gas producers pay to produce on leased state lands. Those royalties have provided $800 million or more to the fund annually in recent years. The permanent fund is now worth more than […]