Inform Your Consent

This snarky but otherwise informative commentary in Time magazine taught me a lot about Alaska’s economy under Governor Palin’s watch, and even more about our national debate over oil drilling and windfall profits taxes.

A few of the highlights:

Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska’s government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it.

Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state’s unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices.

Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.

Under the state constitution, the governor of Alaska has unusually strong powers to shape the state budget. At the Republican National Convention, Palin bragged that she had vetoed “nearly $500 million” in state spending during her two years as governor. This amounts to less than 2% of the proposed budget

Ok, so what do all of these numbers tell us about Palin’s record, and about our energy policies in general?  Palin is no doubt popular in Alaska for bringing back to Alaska a cut of the profits that oil companies make off of $100+ a barrel oil prices.  But the thing is, those profits that Alaskans enjoyed come at the expense of the rest of us taxpayers: we’re footing the bill for all of those federal projects Alaska gets, even though the state is awash in windfall profits that–wait for it–Palin herself taxed the oil companies on.  So, even though McCain opposes Obama’s proposed windfall profit tax proposal, Palin has put it into practice up in oil-rich Alaska.  No wonder they want to open up ANWR.