[clue-talk] oil...

[Brian Gibson]

My guess about why the gas was more expensive in Alaska was wrong.  I stand corrected.  But as you said, if the fuel is sourced and refined there and the gasoline tax is low, it's any wonder why it's more expensive except maybe the tax on the sale of the oil itself?



----- Original Message ----
From: Nate Duehr <nate at natetech.com>
To: CLUE talk <clue-talk at cluedenver.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 4, 2008 2:58:48 AM
Subject: Re: [clue-talk] oil...


On Nov 3, 2008, at 11:09 PM, Brian Gibson wrote:

> Oil is priced on the world market.  Besides, Wyoming can do what they want.  It's their state.  Look, Alaska socializes their oil, pays out dividends, and charged a windfall profit tax (thank you Governor Palin).  Though Alaska does pay a lot for gas, but it probably has more to do with pumping the oil south for refining before it comes back to them as gasoline.


Nope:

Alaska
    • Kenai Refinery (Tesoro), Kenai 72,000 bbl/d (11,400 m³/d)
    • Valdez Refinery (Petro Star), Valdez 50,000 bbl/d (7,900 m³/d)
    • North Pole Refinery (Petro Star), North Pole 17,000 bbl/d (2,700 m³/d)
    • Kuparuk Refinery (ConocoPhillips), Kuparuk 14,400 bbl/d (2,290 m³/d)
    • North Pole Refinery (Flint Hills Resources), North Pole 210,000 bbl/d (33,000 m³/d)
    • Prudhoe Bay Refinery (BP), Prudhoe Bay 12,500 bbl/d (1,990 m³/d

Alaska Levies No Statewide General Sales Tax; Gasoline Tax Second Lowest in the Nation
Alaska levies no general sales or use tax on consumers, joining Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana and Oregon as the only other states with no sales tax. However, Alaska does collect $598 per capita in general sales taxes at the local level. Alaska's gasoline tax stands at 8.0 cents per gallon (lowest nationally), while its cigarette tax stands at $2.00 per pack of twenty (4th highest nationally). The gasoline tax was adopted in 1946 and the cigarette tax in 1949.

Federal Tax Burdens and Expenditures: Alaska is a Beneficiary State
Alaska taxpayers receive more federal funding per dollar of federal taxes paid compared to the average state. Per dollar of Federal tax collected in 2005, Alaska citizens received approximately $1.84 in the way of federal spending. This ranks the state 3rd highest nationally and represents a large rise from 1995 when Alaska received $1.21 per dollar of taxes in federal spending (then ranked at 17th highest nationally). The nearest states and the amount of federal spending they received per dollar of federal taxes paid were: Hawaii ($1.44), Oregon ($0.93), Washington ($0.88) and California ($0.78).

The above data came from this site -- here's the link to Colorado's tax information from them, which is interesting information:

http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/16.html

So, in the case of Alaska, I'm not sure what it is, but it's not for a lack of refining capability nor is it gasoline taxes.

Found this little gadget, which is kinda fun.  (Covers Colorado too... despite the domain name.)

<http://www.alaskagasprices.com/retail_price_chart.aspx>

You can also back up to the parent page and see that Alaska's gas in the cities is just over $3/gal right now.

--
Nate Duehr
nate at natetech.com



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