Alaska Missing Out Due To High Taxes -- Yes, This Is A Bakken Story

Alaska governor wants to cut taxes to encourage oil production. The senate disagrees.

Parnell's bill, which the Department of Revenue estimated could result in more than $8 billion in lost production tax revenue to the state over the next five years, passed the Alaska House of Representatives this spring. But state senators resisted and the bill didn't make it very far in the Senate.

Parnell's plan still has little support in the Senate. Some senators cite Alaska Department of Labor employment figures that show oil industry employment up around record levels.

The Senate Finance Committee has paid for a review of what is happening with oil employment in Alaska, including data showing nearly half the North Slope jobs go to nonresidents. The review, by the McDowell Group of Juneau, is supposed to be turned in to the Legislature in December.

Advocates for lowering Alaska's tax attribute the increased jobs to maintenance, rather than production, and say Alaska is missing out on the kind of drilling boom enjoyed by North Dakota.

The North Dakota legislature should take note.