A Citizen’s Guide

Sen. Hollis French and Rep. Les Gara will be talking oil taxes later today in Anchorage. Specifically, the two Anchorage Democrats will reiterate their plan to remove loopholes from the state’s current system of oil taxes, a system that, according to Gara, leaves untaxed almost all oil fields developed in Alaska since 1990.

French, Gara and other lawmakers have spent months debating Gov. Frank Murkowski’s plan to scrap the current tax system and replace it with a tax on oil companies’ net profits.

Some worry profits could be easily manipulated with a profits-based tax, but a proposal to revamp the current system—a plan pitched this spring by Gara and French—failed along party lines on vote on the Senate floor.

At a joint press conference today at 2 p.m., Gara said they will again suggest that a loophole-free production tax on oil with a rate similar to those seen worldwide will allow the state of Alaska and oil companies to split oil revenue evenly.

Their press conference comes one day after Republican gubernatorial candidate John Binkley asked lawmakers to toss Murkowski’s proposal and stick with a gross production tax.

“I’m glad that’s starting to resonate,” Gara said, noting the similarity.