Murkowski announces oil tax hike

[Judi Lynn]

Web posted January 13, 2005

Murkowski announces oil tax hike
Action would affect approximately 10 percent of oil produced in the state

By TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER
JUNEAU EMPIRE


Seanna O'Sullivan / The Associated Press
State of the State: Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski addresses a joint session of the 24th Alaska state Legislature for his State of the State address Wednesday at the state Capitol.

Gov. Frank Murkowski used his State of the State address Wednesday to announce his intention to raise taxes on nearly 10 percent of the oil produced in Alaska.

The administrative action will combine seven smaller North Slope oil fields for taxation purposes under Alaska's oil production taxation regime known as the Economic Limit Factor, or ELF. It is unclear how much money the change would raise for the state or exactly how the plan would be implemented.
(snip)

Democratic lawmakers have called for an overhaul of the entire ELF law for the last few years, arguing that the tax, last updated in 1989, allows most new fields to avoid paying the state. Murkowski's action extends taxation into the six fields, but does not overhaul the law.
(snip/...)

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/011305/sta_20050113001.shtml

[RobertSeattle]

1. Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Wasn't clear to me from the piece.

[zbdent]

2. "But think of the jobs this will cost!"

wow. A repuke hiking a tax. It happens, it just doesn't get the coverage like the tax-and-spend liberal Dems.

Oh, and Ohio, one of the few states in the Union which does not charge for entering state parks, and has been pretty much controlled by Republicans since 1994, is considering a $5/day/vehicle admission fee to places like Edgewater Park, and other state parks on the coast of Lake Erie.

Funny, especially when you consider that a lot of the attendees to these parks (along the lakeshore) are people who can't afford membership to the country clubs that have nice pools. And the fact that there has been very very little money to post enough lifeguards to cover the area. Essentially a "swim at your own risk".

There goes my lunch hour. I did enjoy going over there during the nicer, warmer days of spring-summer-fall. Of course, I could buy the $25/year pass that they're going to say "it's a bargain!"

I remember the days (last seen while Clinton was Prez) when Ohio had a surplus. Only thing different between then and now is that Bush is pRez, and the state again is heading straight to bankruptcy.