Tax Issues Dominate Legislative Session Attention

See Our Related Editorial: The Legislature should amend a current bill or introduce a new one which 1) at the least, eliminated the oil production tax progressivity feature and lowered the net tax rate from 25%, and 2) repealed the cruise ship tax and burdensome environmental requirements or, at the least, reduced the head tax from $50 to $5 and eliminated all other burdens established by the cruise ship voters initiative. –dh 

The Alaska Standard by Dan Fagan.  Let me get this straight. Our current crop of legislators have at worst, killed the gaspipeline, at best, they’ve delayed it at least three years with the silliness that is AGIA.  This bunch is also responsible for doing nothing about a cruise ship initiative that is driving away passengers in droves. The cruise ship industry averaged in recent years spending $75,000,000 a year promoting Alaska globally. But since the initiative passed (backed by environmentalists and unions hoping to get a sweetheart deal) the industry this year will spend fewer than 17 million promoting our state. $75 million to $17 million overnight. What have lawmakers done to fix the problem? Squat!  ... So we are closed for business in Alaska and what are our fearless leaders working on? Raising the limit to how much free stuff they can get.   ...    North Pole Republican Sen. John Coghill (NGP Photo), a man who should wake up every day feeling awful about the fact that he voted in favor of ACES and that vote has left more than 2000 families with many more coming out of work, is leading the effort to raise the $15 dollar cap.   Related ADN Story by Sean Cockerham.     *     ADN by Lisa Demer.  ...senators on the Finance Committee -- which would have a major role in any change in oil taxes -- are sifting through conflicting perspectives and colliding PowerPoint presentations generated during days of hearings on Alaska's oil and gas taxes.  About 87 percent of the state's general fund revenue comes from oil taxes, but North Slope production is declining, and senators are assessing the tax's impact.  The stakes are extremely high," said state Sen. Bert Stedman (NGP Photo), a Republican from Sitka who co-chairs the Finance Committee. "If the trend is as negative as the industry portrays it in Prudhoe and Kuparuk, we'll see significant reductions in production, which means effects on our treasury."     *     Alaska Dispatch by Rena Delbridge.  A week's worth of hearings on the state's oil tax hasn't done much to resolve a debate dominating the legislative session and this year's gubernatorial race.  Is the state's oil tax, Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share (ACES), working as planned to spur investment in North Slope oil fields, spinning off a boon of high-paying jobs and a continuing flood of money into state coffers?  Or does the tax hinder investment by offering too little reward for the risk companies take spending millions, putting future oil development -- and the state's share -- at risk?