Local governments would collect nothing from gas line for years under Dunleavy plan

The Dunleavy administration says that local governments could get nothing in taxes for up to 10 years from the proposed gas pipeline.

Or the governments would start to collect relatively small amounts as soon as the pipeline carries at least 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day, an amount that is far beyond the energy needs of the in-state market today.

If the proposed gas pipeline is carrying 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day by 2031, an amount far in excess of current gas consumption, local governments would begin to collect small amounts of taxation, under the Dunleavy plan. The chart above shows that at the peak capacity of the line, shown in 2034, the tax rate would be more than 90 percent lower than the current property tax.

Here is the full presentation scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the House Resources Committee.

The presentation, to be made by Brandon Spanos and Dan Stickel, doesn’t justify the exact size of the 92 percent Dunleavy tax cut. It assumes that if the 92 percent tax cut is not provided, the gas line project will be dead. That is not a reasonable assumption.

The presentation says that eliminating property taxes and replacing them with a small tax on the volume of gas transported is “property tax relief.”