On June 10th, I was invited to be a guest on the weekly radio show “Talk of Alaska” by host Steve Heimel with the Alaska Public Radio Network. The topic was Proposition 1 which will be on the primary election ballot in August. I was there to argue in favor of voting yes on Proposition 1 to repeal the new oil tax regime passed by Senate Bill 21 in 2013. Two other guests joined me to argue against Proposition 1. They were Mr. Doug Smith, former owner of the oil field service company Little Red Services, and Ms. Tara Sweeney, Senior Vice-President of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. I always appreciate the opportunity to discuss this very important ballot proposition with my fellow Alaskans. While I respect the opinion of my co-panelists, I disagree with their assertion that the Senate Bill 21 oil tax is good for Alaska. An upside-down tax system that transfers risk to the state and cash to the producers whenever oil prices spike up or down may be good for the three major producers and the oil field service companies they employ. But I will continue to advocate that Senate Bill 21 is certainly not good for the average Alaskan. The oil companies are valuable business partners in our oil fields, but every Alaskan is the owner of the resource and deserves a better deal than what we’re getting under Senate Bill 21. Interested readers who want to listen to the discussion can do so here.
(Paid for by Senator Stedman using state resources.)
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