A political campaign to remove oil tax credits and raise taxes on oil production kicks off in Juneau on Friday.<\/p>\n
Vote Yes for Alaska’s Fair <\/a>Share<\/a>, officially formed on Aug. 16<\/a>, is trying to get an initiative on the 2020 ballot. In order to do that, they need 28,501 signatures.<\/p>\n They’re kicking off their campaign in Juneau on Friday, hosting an event at the Hanger Ballroom. Representatives from the campaign will be there to answer questions and to give a presentation on the details of their initiative, the Fair Share Act.<\/p>\n The group wants to get the Act before voters on the general election on Nov. 3, 2020, and they think they can do it.<\/p>\n “I think we’ve got a real good shot at it,” said Robin Brena, Campaign Chair for Vote Yes for Alaska’s Fair Share and an oil and gas attorney. “There’s been a complete failure of political leadership to get our fair share.”<\/p>\n Alaska loses over a billion dollars a year in potential tax collection, Brena told the Empire in an interview Tuesday. Alexei Painter, a fiscal analyst for the Legislative Finance Division, said that in theory, were the per barrel oil tax credit removed, the tax revenue would be roughly $1.2 billion<\/a>. Painter cautioned however, that number was dependent on production and investment remaining at their current levels.<\/p>\n But the Fair Share group sees that number as a remedy to Alaska’s fiscal woes.<\/p>\n In 2013, the Alaska Legislature passed Senate Bill 21<\/a>, which reduced taxes on oil companies. Supporters said it would drive up investment and create new jobs while detractors called it a give away. But following the bill’s passage, “production is the lowest it’s been<\/a>, hasn’t resulted in investment, hasn’t resulted in jobs,” Brena said.<\/p>\n But Kara Moriarty, President and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, says that’s not the whole story.<\/p>\n “After 2015 the price of oil crashed,” she said in an interview with the Empire. “There were less jobs in the industry because oil prices collapsed. Alaska has still been able to attract major investments to Alaska, investments that were not being made before SB 21.”<\/p>\n The AOGA says that SB 21 has resulted<\/a> in more oil production and investment in Alaska. Reports from AOGA claim that a conservative estimate of $5 billion in new investments came into Alaska following SB 21.<\/p>\n Provisions in the Fair Share Act would only apply to “legacy” oil fields, fields which produce 40,000 barrels a day and have produced 400 million during their lifetime. Currently, Alaska has only three fields which fit that description, Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk and Alpine. Brena was emphatic the taxes would not apply to smaller and developing oil fields.<\/p>\n In addition to increasing taxes, the act would prevent what Brena called “ring fencing,” or the practice of applying deductible expenses from one oil field to another.<\/p>\n “It would only allow deductions for costs that are related to those fields,” Brena said.<\/p>\n