Voting no on Ballot Measure 1

To the editor:

I’m trying to figure out why any Alaskan in their right mind would vote yes on Ballot Measure 1. For starters, over 90 percent of our state government is funded by oil revenue. If individual Alaskans were to fund government, every individual would be paying $22,000 in taxes each year!

Without a tax structure in place that keeps Alaska competitive with other oil provinces in the U.S., the oil companies will reduce their investment here and increase it other places like California, which incredibly has a more favorable oil tax system than Alaska!

The vote yes folks are claiming SB 21 is a giveaway, which is a universe away from the truth. SB 21 allows the oil companies to keep more of their profits (like elsewhere) when oil prices go into the stratosphere, while keeping the tax the same as before at the “median” price of $105 per barrel, which is where the price of oil hangs out a lot.

The people who want a “yes” vote claim that it’s our oil, and it is. However, oil that is left in the ground is of no value to anyone, and that is one of many reasons I am voting no on Ballot Measure 1.

Judy Patrick

Wasilla