The Battle Over Taxes: How much you got?

January 25, 2010: As the legislature prepares to debate possible changes to Governor Sean Parnell's ACES tax hike he backed two years ago, one of our friends found a few interesting facts in the ConocoPhillips 2008 Annual report.

Conoco has been a favorite example of lawmakers like State Senator Hollis French (D-Anch), who are looking to mask the reality of changing dynamics in the oil patch by pointing to Conoco's profitability in the region.

I wrote about it back in November:

Sen. French argues that Conoco Philips' financial statements reveal that the company collected almost 29 percent of its total worldwide profits from its Alaska wells, which make only 12 percent of its total production.

Although he doesn't list any time frames for his numbers, it would seem to me that if his numbers were at all relevant, after Conoco Phillips just released their 2009 third quarter statement where revenues are off $1.5 billion, or 71 percent compared with the same period in 2008, the folks at CP would be rushing to pump more oil from the North Slope. andrewhalcro.com 11/30/09

Meanwhile back at the ranch, these numbers give some insight into the state government's take.

http://wh.conocophillips.com/about/reports/ar08/pageId95.html
 

Alaska's taxes other than income taxes (production taxes) were 71% of the world total. 

Combined with income taxes, Alaska's taxes were 28% of the world total

Alaska's sales were 18% of the world total

Alaska's revenues were 21% of the world total

Alaska's net income was 20% of the world total