State Rundown, Sept. 2: Big Oil Wins In Alaska, Hollywood Wins in California

Oil companies won big in Alaska with a narrow defeat of Ballot Measure 1, which would have repealed the generous regime of tax breaks the legislature gave to oil companies last year. The measure’s defeat was narrow even though those who oppose the measure outspent its proponents by 25 to 1, with BP alone contributing more than $3.5 million to defeat the measure. While the effort to repeal the tax was largely spearheaded by state Democrats, Ballot Measure 1 earned the strong endorsement of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), who advocated returning to the oil tax regime that was set in place while she was governor.

Lawmakers in California have brokered a deal that would more than triple the state’s film tax credits from $100 million to $330 million annually, thus providing a massive windfall to the state film industry. The move comes in spite of warnings from the state’s non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office that it would only further aggravate the race to bottom among states vying for film production and recent studies showing that the economic and fiscal benefit of film production credits have been substantially overstated.  Rather than expanding the state’s film tax credit, California should follow the lead of states such as North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico and others that have been backing off their credits. 

Policy Matters Ohio released a report last week that calls the state’s recent expansion of the EITC inadequate and “out of step with nearly all other state EITCs.” Only 3 percent of Ohio’s poorest workers will benefit from the expansion, which raises the state’s capped EITC from 5 percent to 10 percent of the federal EITC, and average additional saving is just $5. Ohio’s EITC credit is also non-refundable, meaning that it can only reduce tax liability, not be put toward a tax refund. Meanwhile, Ohio Governor John Kasich (R) has pledged to use the state’s budget surplus to enact more income tax cuts, rather than increasing support for working families.

In Iowa, gubernatorial candidate Jack Hatch continues to push for an increase in the gas tax to address funding shortfalls for improvements and repairs on the state’s roads and bridges. Under Hatch’s plan, the state gas tax would increase by 2 cents a year for five years. According to an ITEP report, the purchasing power of Iowa’s gas tax (adjusted for inflation) hit an all-time low this year. 

Finally, a new report from 12billion.org reveals that “airlines get state tax breaks on more than 12 billion gallons of jet fuel through obscure tax codes,” costing states over $1 billion in revenues every year. Thanks to the tax breaks, airlines pay effective fuel tax rates that are far lower than those paid by motorists; in California, car drivers pay an average of 50 cents in taxes per gallon of fuel, while airlines pay about 27 cents.