Alaska set for vote on oil-tax cut after lobby group submits petition

Source: Associated Press

Alaska set for vote on oil-tax cut after lobby group submits petition
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, July 13 | Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:46am EDT


(Reuters) - Critics of an oil-industry tax cut handed a petition with 50,000 signatures to Alaska state officials on Saturday, more than enough to force a referendum that would overturn a new oil tax law.

The bill, approved by the legislature three months ago, replaces taxes tracking oil prices with a cap on tax at 35 percent of net profits. Expectations for the new system were for a likely tax range from about 14 percent to about 20 percent.

"This bill that they passed is against the interests of Alaska," Vic Fischer, a former state senator and one of two surviving authors of the Alaska constitution, told a group of about 50 banner-waving tax-cut opponents gathered outside government offices in Anchorage.

Referendum supporters, organized in a group called "Vote Yes - Repeal the Giveaway", needed 30,169 signatures of registered voters - 10 percent of the total turnout in the last statewide election - to qualify their measure for the 2014 ballot.

Leading oil producers in Alaska include BP Plc, ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil Corp.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/14/alaska-oiltax-idUSL1N0FK04Y20130714?rpc=401