[The Bronze Titan]

Excerpts...

-"In 2006, then Gov. Frank Murkowski, a Republican, proposed changing the state's tax on oil...

-"One year after it went into effect, the Petroleum Profits Tax brought in far less revenue than expected and the state suffered a revenue crunch."

-"Mr. Murkowski's plan turned into a disaster."

-"Meanwhile, as the shortfall appeared, a number of state legislators were on trial, under indictment, or under investigation for bribery by the FBI. "

-"As a new governor in 2007, Mrs. Palin stepped in to address the fiscal crisis and restore accountability. Working with Democrats and Republicans alike"

-"Relative to the old system, Mrs. Palin's plan -- called "Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share" (ACES) -- improves incentives for developing new resources."

-"Her plan includes an escalator clause that gives the state a larger share of revenues when oil prices rise. This is common to production-sharing agreements all over the world."

-"A direct share in oil profits for every citizen is the ultimate incentive for more drilling. That's why in Alaska drilling for oil seems almost universally popular, while other states are drill-phobic."

[onyx]

GAME ON!


Sarah Palin's Busy Ping List!

GAME ON!


Sarah Palin's Busy Ping List!

GAME ON!


Sarah Palin's Busy Ping List!

[RedMDer]

GAME ON!

[wardaddy]

-"A direct share in oil profits for every citizen is the ultimate incentive for more drilling. That's why in Alaska drilling for oil seems almost universally popular, while other states are drill-phobic."

They actually get a check at times if I am not mistaken..at least they claim it on Alaska boards. Are we advocating that on a conservative forum. I have serious hesitation about that. Taxing business to hand out cash to folks.

Taxing them for infrastructure improvements necessary for the increases in population they bring is good but just handing out money is problematic to me and yes I am aware that she didn't start that....it started as some Dividend Fund...35 years ago...

Let's see ...what do reasonable folks here think..should local government tax businesses and give part of that money to the local population as cash? Does any other state do this?

One could argue that it's better to do that than have the govt waste it on BS...it's pretty nuanced question. It can breed dependence or it could be used to reduce taxation on citizens.

I do not know what state and local taxes Alaska has...once upon a time when Texas was oil and gas rich and in production and the Texas Railroad Commission which governed it was bringing in so much royalty revenue to the state that Texas had virtually no statewide tax.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The Establishment is really bringing the knives.

Boy, these bastards are afraid of Sarah.

They are covering their gonads with both hands.

[Calif Conservative]

So Gov. Palin raised taxes on a major American industry — the oil industry

Murkowski : 22.5 % tax rate

Palin: 25 % tax rate

that’s a tax increase ... right ?

And did not state govt. spending rise under Gov. Palin?

-George

[Bratch]

[going hot]

Odd that.

Who would have thought the media and some posters around here actually misrepresented the facts?

I am shocked, yes shocked, I tell ya.

[dila813]

It is like ....

A capital gains tax for oil or better yet .... inflation protection for the state’s long term contracts.

I don’t see anything wrong with it as long as the percentage is fixed or the percentage increase is very small.

I don’t know the details of what she did....makes me want to sign up with the WSJ just so I can read the rest, but I can find the details other places.

The government needs to run more like a business. A Business wouldn’t enter a long term agreement (Multi-year) fixed price contract without some variable to be considered in the price for the items/services.

The fact that she did this..just means she is smart....how she did it determines if she is a socialist or a free market capitalist. I make no judgment either way on this topic.

[thackney]

With the ACES tax structure, Alaska scores very low in a comparison of places to invest for Capital investment for petroleum facilities.

Fraser Institute - Global Petroleum Survey 2011
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/global-petroleum-survey-2011.pdf
See Table 1: Jurisdictional rankings according to the extent of invest mentbarriers, page 15

When France, Italy and Ghana score higher as a better place to invest for an oil production facility, it is time to fix what is broken.

The survey continues to break it down into areas of concern, including topics like stability, regulations, and fiscal. In the United States, fiscal terms pose a greater barrier to investment in the US Off shore—Pacific,
California, and Alaska than in other jurisdictions. (page 79)

Figure 25, page 83, shows onshore Alaska scores lower in Taxation Regime than all other states except Ohio and California.

The survey was distributed to managers and executives in the “upstream” petroleum industry.

The survey was administered from January 31, 2011 to April 25, 2011. A total of 502 individuals responded, representing 478 companies. As figure 1 illustrates, about 60 percent of the respondents identified them selves as either a manager or holding a higher-level position. The companies that participated in the survey account for more than 60 percent of the annual spending on petroleum exploration and production by the international oil companies

[GraceG]

[ -”As a new governor in 2007, Mrs. Palin stepped in to address the fiscal crisis and restore accountability. Working with Democrats and Republicans alike” ]

“restore accountability” - this is what scares the left out of their knickers.

[lewislynn]

The state's oil and gas tax revenues for its just-ended fiscal 2007 topped $10 billion. That's twice as much as fiscal 2006 and four times more than 2004

I guess there's no relation to increased tax revenue with increased production and record profits...Only that Palin raised taxes on those poor oil companies.

[Al B.]

"Relative to the old system, Mrs. Palin's plan -- called "Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share" (ACES) -- improves incentives for developing new resources."

And it worked:

August 14, 2011 (from the McClatchy ADN, no less) -- Slope exploration seaason looks to be busiest in decades

[hosepipe]

The people of Alaska OWN the oil in the ground.. NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT or the oil companies.. The oil companies must PAY to get it out.. and sell it..

The federal gov’t trying to siphon off some of the proceeds is OBSCENE,,, Unconstitutional and just WRONG..

The federal government OWNING LAND in any State is WRONG...
The federal government should OWN only what the States ALLOW THEM TO OWN..
NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND...

[cookcounty]

Big difference: Exxon, Conoco Phillips, BP etcetera DO NOT OWN A DROP OF OIL in Alaska.

It is all owned by the people of Alaska,and they can drive whatever bargain they want when they sell it to the oil companies. It’s called free trade.

In the lower 48, the great majority of mineral rights were sold long ago, not so in Alaska, where mineral rights, with few exceptions, were never sold, and are retained (according to the Alaska Constitution) by the citizens of Alaska.

[Buckeye McFrog]

We hear this all the time in Pennsylvania because our Governor will not sign an extraction tax on shale gas. The Liberals always shoot back with “Well....your hero Sarah Palin imposed one in Alaska, and you wouldn’t call HER a Socialist, would you?”

[RinaseaofDs]

I think Palin can ride this energy theme into the White House as an EXPERT, which is something the rest of the field cannot.

I don’t think Texans get checks when oil companies drill there.

If every state could go to the Alaskan model, it could turn the whole country around.

[rwrcpa1]

What these articles never seem to tell you is that the price of oil makes a huge difference in the revenue collected. Nominal Average prices- 2004 $37.66 2006 $58.30 2010 $71.21 Source: http://www.inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/historical_oil_prices_table.asp

She did what was best for her state. Murkowski's plan was a failure, and easy to manipulate net profits. Her plan raised revenue and also improved incentives for developing new resources. If the Feds would get out of the way even more production would be developed.

[GoodDay]

Oil companies in Alaska are paying more money in taxes than ever before.

Many people believe that if government imposed a tax on cows, that it would be the cows who paid the tax . . . as opposed to consumers who bought milk, cheese, and beef. In the above case, wouldn't it have been the oil consumers who ultimately paid these taxes, not the oil producers?

[hattend]

Announce soon, Sarah.

[volunbeer]

Thanks for posting this and it should be an interesting debate. The main problem is that people don’t truly understand how different Alaska is from the lower 48.

Palin got a good deal for Alaska and it’s citizens. I understand the complaints from some on this thread that it violated the ideological purity of conservatism but that purity also does not account for the government owning all but 1% of the land. I count the native populations and land grants as government. That ideological purity does not account for the reality that the Federal government impedes the incredible amount of jobs, production, and economic activity that could take place in Alaska in a free market with reasonable environmental protections.