Falling From Grace and Prosperity As The Great Tax Debate Grinds On
 
by
 
Dave Harbour
 
 
Yesterday, the debate continued among constituencies as the Senate Finance Committee heard from citizens around the state.  First, we will address an outrageous argument made by opponents to tax reform.  Then, we’ll give a few  examples of citizen testimony and conclude with a suggestion for how to resolve the whole situation.
 
Silly Logic
 
Some of the specious talking points opposing reform centered around, "Don’t give the oil companies a tax break."   Others say it in a different way: “Don’t give them our money unless they guarantee us it will be used in Alaska.”  Others say, “The current tax structure is just fine; the oil companies are making plenty of profits and our constitution says our natural resources should provide maximum benefit to the people.”  Still others compound their foolish view of economics by confidently and proudly emphasizing the misleading proposition that, "It’s Our Oil!"
 
Having been a sometimes participant and longtime observer of Alaska’s ‘tax policy’ I would suggest that unless decision makers rise above such populist rhetoric and correctly analyze the challenges Alaska faces, the state will fall from both grace and economic prosperity in the very near future.

 

(…to be continued, Monday, 3-18-13.)

CBC News. Canada Re-opens Abandoned Nunavut, Canada Oil Field For Bidding.  (We thank the Alaska Dispatch for this link.  -dh)

Eye on the Arctic.  Satellite mapping has indicated an overall trend of decreasing sea-ice since 1979, study authors Dr. Laurence C. Smith and Scott R. Stephenson of the University of California write in the journal PNAS, and reports of Arctic sea ice hitting its lowest-ever recorded levels in 2012 has fueled discussions on the opening up of Arctic waters to increased traffic.

Houston Chronicle: Canada pitches oil sands crude as greener choice for US  –  Canada took its new green pitch for Keystone XL to the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston on Wednesday, as the country’s natural resource minister branded oil sands crude the best environmental choice for the United States. Canadian oil sands crude is a greener, cleaner choice than the imported alternatives from Venezuela and Mexico that are now flowing into Gulf Coast refineries through other pipelines, Joe Oliver said. Mexican crude is expected to decline and the reliability of Venezuelan supply is questionable, Oliver stressed. And, he insisted, those countries aren’t making the same strides to rein in greenhouse gas emissions that Canada is.

Reuters: Keystone XL critics now hang hopes on delaying the pipeline – After the Keystone XL oil pipeline cleared an important hurdle last week, critics of the project are searching for ways to force more of the delays that have dogged it for more than four years already. The State Department said Friday that TransCanada Corp’s pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to Texas would not add to global greenhouse gas emissions because oil sands crude will make it to market whether or not the project is built. That interpretation neutralized a major argument that many environmentalists have put forward against the 800,000 barrel per day pipeline: that once built it would usher in greater development of the oil sands, where production is carbon-intensive.
 
Politico Pro: Greens not out of anti-Keystone ammo  –  Things look bleak for greens opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline — but they still have plenty of weapons to thwart or slow the project. Environmentalists suffered a blow last week when the State Department issued the latest in a series of studies that discounted their warnings that TransCanada’s Alberta-to-Texas oil pipeline would endanger the Earth’s climate. Still, Keystone faces at least several more months on its road to a presidential permit. And opponents have options including filing lawsuits, enlisting other agencies’ help or appealing to Secretary of State John Kerry to reject his staff’s work. They could also play the biggest wild card of all — whether President Barack Obama wants the pipeline to live or die.