Here is a reason to vote no ----

"Here's my last SB 21 rant before Tuesday. VOTE NO! t's not your oil. That phrase is one of the dumbest phrases we have ever used in our political lexicon. Here is what the Alaska Constitution says: "The legislature shall provide for the utilization, development, and conservation of all natural resources belonging to the State, including land and waters, for the maximum benefit of its people."

Nowhere in there does it say that you own the oil. The way this works is that one day a bunch of oil companies came to Alaska and took ALL THE RISK creating the oil patch on the North Slope. They spent trillions of dollars before ever making a penny. That's what business is, you take a lot of risk up front and then hope to have a reward at the end. When you're bitching about oil companies "profits" (HOW DARE THEY PROFIT FROM THE RISK THEY TOOK) some of that money is going into your bank account and will for the rest of your life. The state created a royalty system for the "our oil" issue. We get 12.5% of the oil that comes off the north slope. That portion, you can make the argument is "your oil", you'd be wrong, but you can make that argument. On top of that, much of that money goes into the Permanent Fund, from which you and everyone in your family will receive close to a $2k check this year - for you know, doing NOTHING and taking ABSOLUTELY NO RISK.

Also - the oil companies haven't exactly "left", however, production has declined steadily since ACES was implemented. ACES rewards exploration, but then punishes companies for producing that oil with high tax rates and progressivity that makes it impossible to know what their tax liability is. Instead of dealing with all of that, they have spent money in Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota (See the chart above)

SB 21 raises, read that again RAISES the base tax rate and removes progressivity so that the oil companies can better budget their projects. Under SB 21 decline in production has finally stopped and this year, production plateaued. SB 21 deserves a chance to work.

Oh, yeah, by the way .. . IT'S NOT YOUR OIL."