“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.”
So, each alaskan receives a cut of the taxes generated from companies that do business there?
The State collects the taxes and redistributes them to citizens?
The citizens get the money just because they live there? They don’t do anything to earn them?
How is this conservative?
Good grief people. It’s not “companies that do business there”. The oil companies are taking state owned (ie people of Alaska) resources and extracting them for a profit. Would you expect part of the profits of gold that came from you land even though someone else with the equipment and expertise was allowed to dig it up? It’s not the same as a company that buys raw materials and makes a product for resale.
Not a correct description. Alaska owns the minerals. In oil and gas, royalties from the production of minerals are collected just like if I collected royalties from my privately owned mineral rights in Texas.
In Alaska, they are owned jointly, no private ownership of minerals, although the Native Groups own their minerals rights (collectively by group) and the Feds own theirs. Governor Palin did not change this.
What she put in places was ACES, a tax on the profit after royalties and other approved expenses are paid. There was a profit tax before Gov. Palin; this is not new. She changed the structure and increased the rate. This tax is not redistributed but only used for state government.