Did Palin impose a windfall profits tax on Alaskan oil?
Yes. Alaskans will receive $1,200 each from the windfall tax, in addition to $2,069 they will receive from other oil taxes.
While Obama and McCain debate a windfall tax on oil companies - Obama in favor, McCain opposed - Palin has already imposed a windfall oil profits tax in Alaska.
In 2007 Palin pushed for and enacted a major increase in state oil taxes - a step that has generated stunning new revenues for Alaska as oil prices have soared. The Alaska Oil and Gas Association estimates the state collected $6 billion from Palin-imposed windfall taxes during the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2008. Combined with other new and existing oil taxes, as well as royalties, the state's total oil revenue in the last fiscal year exceeded $10 billion - double the amount the state received the previous fiscal year. [1]
Palin's windfall tax will fund a $1,200 "rebate" that Alaska will give to every eligible man, woman and child in Alaska, to help offset soaring fuel prices. That money will be dispersed as part of larger, $3,269 check that Alaskans will receive that was paid for by state taxes on oil companies - a family of four will receive a check for $13,076. The fuel rebates will cost the state $750 million. [1-3]
Background:
In October 2007 Palin rolled out a tax increase plan on oil companies operating in Alaska, including a windfall profits tax. Palin's plan, called the "Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share" (ACES) plan, was approved by the state Legislature and includes:
* Raising the state's current net profits tax on North Slope oil from a 22.5% to 25.0% base.
* A "progressive" windfall profits tax: When oil prices rise above about $50 a barrel, the tax rate increases by 0.2% for each additional dollar a barrel.
* A 10% tax floor on North Slope oil, to kick in if prices go below about $40 a barrel. [4]
Palin in November 2007, on her ACES tax hike:
"The state of Alaska is currently the largest investor on the North Slope, having paid for 50 percent of all investments in 2007. Yet our share of net revenue, including royalties, property and corporate income tax, was about 40 percent. The "equitable share" component in ACES narrows this gap...
"One of the key knobs in my plan is the progressiveness knob. Progressiveness is the additional share we capture when oil prices and profits are high...
"The reality is we are a state very rich in natural resources. Currently, we do not receive fair value for our resources as they're extracted and sold for us, at a premium, to very hungry markets. My administration and the 25th State Legislature have an opportunity to build a tax structure that is clear and equitable. That's what we get with ACES." [5]
On September 5th, 2008 Alaska's Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell announced the $3,269 check that every eligible man, woman and child in Alaska will receive, which includes the $1,200 windfall profit rebate Palin backed and was approved the previous month. Parnell on the $1,200 windfall profit rebate:
"The royalty dollars that flow through the state are the people's wealth. The $1,200 resource rebate goes to that philosophy." [2]
Palin's oil tax increase is part of a larger global trend. High energy prices and the industry's difficulty in finding giant new oil fields has emboldened many nations, including market-friendly United Kingdom, home to oil giants BP and Royal Dutch Shell, to raise oil taxes and royalty payments in recent years. [1]
http://www.mccainfactcheck.com/facts/11/palin_windfall_profits_tax_344511.shtmlfoot note links work at site.
