These taxes are a form of mineral rights royalties, which are paid by oil companies (and mining companies) throughout the world to whatever entity owns the land from which they are extracting the mineral resources. She simply negotiated it upwards, since it appears to have been low because of an agreement with her predecessor, Gov. Murkowski.
Usually the money from these royalties flows into the governmental treasuries, but she took the novel step of turning it over to the people of her state.
Sarah Palin spent four years as a City Council Member for Wasilla, Alaska, six years as Mayor of Wasilla, and two years as Governor of Alaska.
FDR spent just over two years in the New York State Senate, eight years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and four years as Governor of New York.
Theodore Roosevelt spent some time in the New York State Assembly(?), two years as Governor of New York, two years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and less than one year as Vice President of the United States.
Woodrow Wilson spent eight years as President of Princeton University and two years as Governor of New Jersey.
Grover Cleveland spent two years as Sheriff of Erie County, two years as Mayor of Buffalo, and two years as Governor of New York.
Overall, I’d say that Palin’s background is comparable with that of several presidents considered highly successful, even considering that her state has a smaller population than the other two states on the list.
While Obama has been running for office for as long as Palin has been running a state, I find it hard to consider the two tasks as comparable preparation.
One final note: I will be posting this multiple times because I think it is important to get the word out that that her experience is in keeping with previous presidents. I apologize to those who are annoyed by seeing it too often.