Van Meurs said it would be difficult to introduce the changes he’s proposing in what he called a somewhat unfavorable political climate in Alaska.
Over the opposition of oil companies, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska’s Legislature last year approved a major increase in taxes on the oil industry — a step that has generated stunning new wealth for the state as oil prices soared
The windfall Tax took 70 cents of every dollar of profit leaving the oil companies with 30 cents of profit.
“What the tax has done is take away all the upside,” said Doug Suttles, president of BP Alaska. The U.K.-based oil company paid more than $500 million in taxes to Alaska last quarter — far more than it earned in profits from Alaskan oil, according to Suttles.
Investment dollars are flowing instead to places that have a better return, like the massive deep-water projects offshore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where ConocoPhillips said the government take equals less than 50 percent of the barrel.
Last year?
The ACES tax is a sliding scale, it continuous to increase in percentage as the oil price increases. It does not have an inflation allowances so as time goes on, and prices rises along with the deflated value of the dollar, the rate continues to increase.