Sara Chapell is collecting signatures in Haines for Alaska’s Fair Share Act.
Activists in communities across the state are circulating a petition that aims to raise state revenue by increasing taxes on oil production.
Haines resident Sara Chapell says she volunteered with the campaign for the Fair Share Act due to her frustration with the state budget.
“I was really distraught by last summer’s budget process, and the idea that Alaska doesn’t have enough money to pay for basic services like education and support for our seniors and our ferry system. It really made me angry,” Chapell says.
She felt that legislators were not looking at options for raising revenue. To her, the answer is obvious: the oil industry should provide more funding for state services.
“I feel like the oil industry has room to be successful but still pay their fair share to Alaskans. We are an owners state. The Alaska State constitution guarantees that our resources are managed to the maximum benefit of Alaskans, and right now we’re not getting that benefit.”
The Fair Share Act proposes to increase production taxes on the state’s largest oil fields. It would also eliminate per barrel tax credits and increase Alaskan’s share of oil revenues as the price of oil increases. The group advocating for the act estimates these changes would bring in an extra billion dollars in taxes.
Chapell and other organizers hope to gather enough signatures to put the proposal on next year’s general election ballot.
“I got the petition maybe two weeks ago and I have I think 60 signatures,” Chapell says. “To get a citizen’s initiative on the ballot you need 10 percent of the electorate that voted in the last election. My understanding is that’s about 28,000 signatures.”
Those need to be collected by January 21. Not everyone supports the idea though. This month a group of business owners and economic development advocates formed a group called OneAlaska to fight the ballot measure.
They argue that a tax increase of this magnitude will jeopardize oil development projects and make Alaska less competitive economically. They warn that this could result in job loss and less long-term revenue for the state.
The Fair Share Act is one of four ballot measures that have been proposed for next year’s general election. Other initiatives include moving all meetings of the legislature from Juneau to Anchorage, ranked choice voting, and an education policy reform bill.
