Bad behavior doesn’t warrant state-sanctioned approval

Last month Democrats wrote Gov. Sarah Palin requesting a special session to fix Alaska’s flawed oil tax law. When we did that, I hesitated at making the easy argument – that last year’s oil tax law is now clouded by federal indictments of legislators who for years have slow-rolled efforts by Sen. Hollis French, myself and other Democratic colleagues to bring needed, fair oil tax reform to Alaska. When the FBI says at least five legislators were offered money from VECO, the company that used its political heft to keep taxes on Exxon, BP and ConocoPhillips as low as possible, that’s a good argument for a special session. But audacity and intrigue aren’t the best arguments for writing a better oil tax law. The best argument is that last year’s oil tax rewrite sends billions of dollars to oil companies, in terms of lost tax revenue, that should go into Alaska’s savings accounts; that should be used to give all Alaskans a quality education; and that should be used to provide basic necessities and dignity to Alaska’s most frail children and seniors. Image source: quickplace.altarum.org

News selected by Covalence | Country: USA | Company: ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips | Source: Fairbanks Daily News