September 6, 2008
"Palin Boosted Oil-Company Taxes While Alaska Had Budget Surplus"
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who has joined the Republican national ticket as a tax-cutter, was a driving force in raising a tax on oil companies last year that will help swell the state's budget surplus.
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.