State Budget; Oil Tax Money; Other Taxes -- 2011 - 2013 Biennium

From The Dickinson Press.

I often misread these stories, but I think I have it right.  Numbers are rounded, as if "spoken" over coffee at the Economart in Williston

Data points:

• oil tax revenue continues to surprise, surpass expectations -- and the numbers are not trivial
• ND has a biennial budget (a two-year budget)
• recent oil tax paid to state: $2 billion (fiscal year 2011)
• forecasts: $4 billion/biennium (2011 - 2013)
• the money has all been allocated
• most of the money will be spent on the bullet train from Williston to Watford City; chunnel under the Missouri River

Put this in stone:

“The price (of oil) hasn’t changed much from what we anticipated,” said Senate Appropriations Chairman Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks. “It is the production that is going through the roof … clearly the Bakken has taken off.”

Clearly. But at least it sounds better than "you didn't build that."

The last data point up above is not true; I just placed it there to see if anyone is paying attention -- also to direct traffic to the linked source.

That $2 billion / $4 billion is direct from oil extraction/production taxes. It does not include:

• vehicle licenses: $125 million ($30 million more than expected)
• sales taxes: $1 billion ($365 million more than expected)
• state income tax (individual and corporate): $630 million (more than double what was expected -- $300 million)

In fiscal year 2010: oil tax money -- $600 million

So, from fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2011: < $600 million to > $1.7 billion