A Citizen’s Guide

State Revenue Commissioner Bill Corbus on Thursday reiterated the administration’s stance that the 20/20 proposal originally introduced by the governor is the appropriate rate to encourage investment on the North Slope.

He said a higher rate—such as the 22.5 percent tax rate and 25 percent credit rate passed by the Senate—could adversely affect negotiations with the producers for a natural gas pipeline.

He said the administration also does not support the escalator in the Senate version that would increase the tax rate by 0.2 percent for every $1 the price of oil goes over $50 a barrel.

Corbus said the governor’s proposal presented the “least risk to the state and the most assistance to the industry.”

The governor is scheduled to meet with the press again today at 1:30 p.m. to make his case.