But we did lose our power to tax oil leases, and this means that the Borough had to levy a 15 mill tax instead of a one or two mill tax, as we had planned. I f Egan's plan to take our tax power from us had succeeded, the State would have levied taxes, and dribbled money to the Borough in BIA fashion, and we would have lost our right to self-rule. I am using the Governor's race to try to educate the people of Alaska about the importance to the entire state of strong local government for rural Alaska. Running for Governor in the primary will provide me a platform from which to organize this help. A merica will survive Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal because our nation is based upon the strength of local government.
Local government is strong because in America it has the power to levy property taxes.
We will survive on the North Slope, and throughout rural Alaska because of this same strength. My Candidacy for Governor is part of our strategy to defend our strength, and to win back our right to levy property taxes on all oil property on the Slope.