FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Sentinel Staff Writer
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Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
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At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]
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Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]
Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m. [ ... ]
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
Sitkans Seek Oil Tax Petition Signatures
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
A handful of Sitkans are working to get a question on next fall’s ballot that they say will increase oil tax revenues to the state, and help reduce the budget gap.
Advocates say the ballot initiative Fair Share Act would raise an additional $1 billion in oil tax revenues by increasing the gross tax rate, eliminating net tax credits, and increasing the percentage share as the price of oil and oil companies’ profits increase.
“The Fair Share Act is fair to both producers and Alaskans,” says a fact sheet from the group sponsoring the initiative. “It continues the existing tax breaks for new and developing fields while ensuring we collect our fair share from the largest and most profitable legacy fields.”
The group of eight Sitkans collecting signatures say they have gathered more than 600 so far toward the 28,501 signatures needed statewide – 10 percent of the number who voted in the last general election. Also, 30 of the state’s 40 legislative districts must submit signatures totaling at least 7 percent of the number of voters in their district in the last election.
From left, Lione Clare, Stacey Wayne and Scott Maxwell hold petitions in front of Harrigan Centennial Hall Saturday. (Sentinel Photo by James Pouson)
Nate Graham, Fair Share spokesman, said about 150 volunteers are collecting signatures, which must be turned in by the Jan. 21 deadline. He will ask gatherers to submit their signatures by late December or early January.
Sitka signature gatherers are confident they will exceed the threshold.
“If we can get 700 in Sitka that would be enough for our voting district to qualify in adding to that total,” said retired teacher Stacey Wayne, who has been gathering signatures. “I think we can easily get to that number in Sitka.”
Volunteers set up information tables at public events like the Art Walk, Turkey Trot and Christmas Bazaar, but some are going door to door, Wayne said. The message about the oil companies paying their fair share seems to resonate with Sitkans, she said.
“Once they understand it, that it’s fair, most were interested in signing,” Wayne said.
Wayne has followed the issue of oil taxes for a number of years, and advocated for a fair tax system at the legislative level. She traced the beginning of inequity to Gov. Sean Parnell, and the end of the ACES (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share) taxation system under the Palin administration, under Senate Bill 21. A previous voter-driven initiative to overturn SB21 failed.
“Parnell reversed ACES, taxes disappeared on the oil companies and we started giving them subsidies,” Wayne said. Efforts to increase taxes on oil companies at the legislative level and voter initiative level have failed, but Wayne believes now may be the time to revisit the issue.
She said that under Palin, oil companies paid some $12 per barrel. That has dropped to about $2 per barrel. The initiative would bring it up to $8 per barrel.
“We’ve been asked to tighten our belts and make sacrifices,” Wayne said. “One group that hasn’t been affected are the oil companies. They just have such influence in the Legislature.”
She said she knows people are worried about oil jobs leaving the state.
“Oil company jobs leaving the state has nothing to do with taxes put on oil fields,” she said. “It has to do with the lucrative fracking (available elsewhere). They would like to have us believe it’s the taxes but taxes are at an all-time low and jobs walked out of the state even with the subsidies. The reverse has been true.”
Another volunteer, Scott Maxwell, said he signed up to help out of his interest in staving off cuts to education in the state. He is currently working at Mt. Edgecumbe High School, and studying to become a teacher.
“The main thing is making sure the schools are funded,” he said. “The schools can’t be facing any sudden cuts like we were threatened with this year. There was a lot of turmoil. We want to make sure funding is coming, from year to year. ... We want to make sure school funding is stable and not wondering about when the next bloodbath is going to hit.”
Graham added, “We could fund essential government services, health care, ferries, if the Fair Share Act passes. And Alaska would still be the most profitable place in the world for oil companies to do business.”
Literature from the campaign says that Alaskans are getting less than 20 percent of the gross revenues from the sale of oil, and producers are getting almost 50 percent.
The signature collecting started in late October. Graham says there are some difficulties in getting signatures at this time of year, but he hopes the campaign can meet the Jan. 21 deadline to get on the general election ballot in November.
“We’re really optimistic,” said Graham, a volunteer who works for Sen. Bill Wielechowski in Anchorage. “We’re on track to meet our goal. We have more than we anticipated at this point.”
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....