Some Republicans and nearly all of the Senate Democrats are supporting closing the Hilcorp loophole, though it may stall because Democrat Matt Claman says his constituents don’t want higher oil taxes.
As I’ve written here before, that is not a good excuse on the easiest oil tax vote in the history of oil tax votes. The situation is only going to get worse. This is just one of the tax changes the state has to face.
Read MoreThe Alaska Department of Revenue needs to admit that the state’s financial plight during the opening months of the “Golden Age of Alaska” is far worse than the Dunleavy administration guessed in March.
Falling oil prices are swelling the Dunleavy deficit by the day.
Read MoreSen. Bill Wielechowski is correct in saying it was the Dunleavy administration that came up with the idea for SB 113, which would change state law so that some tax income from businesses with more than half of their income online would be apportioned to Alaska.
Read MoreI understand why Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum would want to keep the public from knowing that he took unauthorized leave in the first week of April. But the revenue department should never have made the ridiculous claim that this information is a state secret.
Alaskans deserve to know whether it was Crum who made the decision to redact a public document to conceal what happened.
Read MoreAssembly member Barbara Haney should have declared that she is in no position to be impartial about Savannah Fletcher and declared a conflict of interest.
Instead, she said, “I think I can be fair.”
All the evidence says otherwise.
Read MoreA new unofficial campaign ad claiming Sen. Dan Sullivan is “fighting to protect and strengthen Medicaid” is paid for by a dark money group from Virginia that was led until recently by a former aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell.
The ad by One Nation, which supports Senate Republicans, calls Sullivan “Our Trusted Champion.”
Read MoreUnder the Sullivan/Begich plan, Alaskans without proof of citizenship would be unable to vote. Sullivan’s office claims that all a voter would have to do is sign a document that says you are a citizen. That’s not what the bill Sullivan is cosponsoring says. It requires that you must prove to an election official that you are a citizen.
Read MoreAs the state House debated the proposed operating budget, it rejected an amendment to subtract $12.5 million from the enormous cash reserves of the Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority.
I was struck during the House debate at the stunning level of misinformation about AIDEA. Many legislators, by their comments, showed that they know nothing about the corporation’s $600 million to $700 million surplus, yet they pretend to be informed.
Read MoreHaving written about his denunciation of the campaign watchdog group, I was surprised Friday when Rep. Kevin McCabe was born again as a champion of the Alaska Public Offices Commission.
He claimed that one of his 10 amendments to a campaign finance bill would “Strengthen APOC—the watchdog tasked with enforcing our campaign finance laws.”
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