I did not speak up because I had not facts, but I did suspect that the tax was populist --- simply because I remember that, during Palin's governorship, the sentiment was strongly against the oil companies that were supposedly "gouging" us, poor folks.
And, regardless of motives, any (i) progressive tax or (ii) linear tax that rises to 90% is plain stupid: it screams, "Don't do more work, don't explore, don't invest..." The only similar stupidity that I recall was during the New Deal of FDR when Congress passed a tax law with a maximum income tax of... 100% (together with state tax, it made it greater than 100%). In his infinite wisdom FDR, probably under influence of Morgenthau, reduced it to 90%. Socialist insanity at its worst. It really pains me to hear that the same is happening as we speak.
I am truly sorry to hear that you are on the receiving end of this, and your business is adversely affected. I very much hope that sanity will prevail -- for your sake, for the sake of people you employ, and for the sake of the rest of the country.
Thank you again for educating me on this issue. It's not the information that is easy to acquire.