Could Alaska end tax breaks for Big Oil?

Republicans in Alaska have long argued that only a massive tax break would give oil companies the certainty necessary to ramp up production to bolster the state economy, but citizens backed by Democrats feel this was a simple giveaway of the state’s oil wealth and that they won’t see much in return.

|
Kevin Thompson/AP/File
A technician is silhouetted working below an oil platform 15 miles off the coast of the Kenai Peninsula in the Cook Inlet near Anchorage, Alaska. Alaska's tax break for Big Oil is in danger of being overturned, Kennedy writes, so the major victory big oil has won in Alaska may indeed be short-lived.

A major tax break for oil companies signed into law in May is now the heart of a battle between industry-friendly politicians who say the tax break will boost sluggish production and citizens who are demanding a refund.

A citizen group has gathered 50,000 signatures to repeal the May tax break—enough to place a repeal of Senate Bill 21 on the August 2014 primary ballot.

Republicans in Alaska have long argued that only a massive tax break would give oil companies the certainty necessary to ramp up production to bolster the state economy. That’s one side of the story. The other side is that of citizens backed by Democrats who feel this was a simple giveaway of the state’s oil wealth and that they won’t see much in return. (Related Article: Halliburton Plead Guilty to Destruction of Evidence in 2010 Gulf Oil Spill)

Here’s the backstory. In May, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell signed the tax break legislation, which passed in an 11-9 Senate vote. The legislation reversed the progressive tax system that raised taxes along with rising oil profits, which had been put into effect under Parnell’s predecessor, Sarah Palin. (According to Forbes, two of the majority yes voters work for ConocoPhillips.) 

The general consensus now is that the oil lobbyists might have taken things a bit too far—and might have benefited from some more subtlety. Now the legislation is in danger of being overturned, so the major victory big oil has won in Alaska may indeed be short-lived.

“Too much was given up in that bill in exchange for too little, Alaska Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, wrote in an op-ed piece in theAnchorage Daily News. “Alaskans simply saw about $4.5 billion of money that would have been used to build roads and educate our children over the next five years given over to three of the richest corporations in the world.” French has been calling for Alaskans to appeal the legislation since May.

“What has happened now with the new law, to the best of my knowledge, is, number one, the credits that were incentives to have small companies explore have been eliminated, and that turns basic control back over to the three majors again. And that’s not the way to get more oil production underway,” Alaska Dispatch quoted Dick Waisanen, one of those who volunteered to gather signatures to have the issue put on the next state election ballot.

Source: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Will-Big-Oil-Lose-its-Alaska-Tax-Break.html

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Could Alaska end tax breaks for Big Oil?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2013/0726/Could-Alaska-end-tax-breaks-for-Big-Oil
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe