Did the oil rich parts of the country NOT suffer like the rest of the country during the recession?

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Alaska didn't suffer much during the recession,

but the plummeting oil prices are hitting us hard now. That combined with the stupid SB21 that was forced through by ex-governor Sean Parnell last year that guarantees that, because of incentives to the oil companies to produce, we will now be paying them, apparently, to take our oil for a negative return. Less than zero.

Frankly, I just wish they'd pull up stakes and leave, taking all these transplanted Texas and Oklahoma oil men with them. Maybe then we'd get our state back, even if it was painful for a while.

I lived here before the pipeline, when we actually had an income tax. I liked it better.


Our new governor hits the nail on the head in this op ed. http://www.adn.com/article/20150108/gov-bill-walker-hard-truth-about-alaskas-oil-revenue

Imagine your family’s biggest source of income plummeting by 80 percent in one year. At today’s oil prices, that’s Alaska’s situation. The state’s oil and gas production tax is expected to bring the state $524 million in the current fiscal year, a shocking drop from the $2.6 billion collected last year.

But that’s only part of the story. The state offers tax credits to oil and gas companies as a way to encourage investment that will, it is hoped, increase oil production. Once all the credits are factored in, our production tax is expected to generate negative returns to the state. You read that right: this year, for the first time in state history, we are making less than zero from a tax meant to compensate Alaska for the taking of its oil resources.

How is this situation possible? The Alaska Department of Revenue projects the state will pay $625 million to producers through various oil and gas production credits. Subtract that from $524 million in production tax revenue, and we’re about $100 million in the red. Next year, the problem is expected to worsen, with the state netting negative $400 million on what has traditionally been our biggest source of unrestricted revenue.

I have learned these bitter facts over the past few weeks, and I feel obliged to tell Alaskans the hard truth. As for how we got here, it appears to be a combination of tax breaks and credits, and a tax structure that magnifies the state’s losses at low oil prices. The last oil tax rewrite occurred during a period of sustained high oil prices, and there was little consideration given to the low-price scenario.

<snip>