But I thought John McCain said raising taxes on oil companies would cause them to reduce output and do more harm than good? Apparently not:
The increase backed by the Republican vice presidential nominee will, at current prices, raise oil revenue to $11 billion this year — almost twice what the state needs to fund its government — state documents show. Alaska also has gotten more money from the federal government than its residents pay in taxes — $1.75 per tax dollar in 2006, the most recent year available, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington research group.
But that’s fine and dandy. Experience doesn’t matter anymore. As matter of fact, that should be the new GOP slogan; “We don’t care about experience”. Let’s just ask neo-con icon Grover Norquist:
`There’s never a good reason to raise taxes,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington group that encourages politicians to sign a no-new-taxes pledge. “She does have a track record of cutting other taxes. We’re interested in what she does going forward.”
So even though in her tenure of 20 months as governor she raised oil taxes, we won’t worry about that, because she might change now. Sounds like the neo-cons are selling out to the same gamble McCain has sold out to.
But let’s look at what more drilling would do for Alaska, something Palin is very much for:
Each Alaska resident gets an annual rebate from state oil revenue, and this year Palin added $1,200 more to the $2,100 check each person received.
So if we open up more drilling, Alaskans could see even bigger refund checks every year. It really makes you sick to think that the people of Alaska don’t pay taxes and still get all this money, yet they receive so much in pork. Perhaps this is the best thing about Palin being on the ticket. The American people can now see how the people of Alaska really live, and how we support them.
Also we should ask ourselves if McCain is right. Does raising taxes on the oil companies increase our cost at the pump? If so then why did Palin raise the taxes while we were facing $4 a gallon at the pump? It’s nice that the people of Alaska received a little extra cash, but at what cost – people losing their homes and jobs here?