Following is an excerpt from a Dispatch column published January 8, 2015 by Mr. Cole.

Lawmakers may have thought they could avoid discussion of oil taxes this year, but the subject will come up every time a public hearing takes place on a plan to cut state spending for this or that. It will be long the lines of "Why are you cutting (fill in the blank) when you are paying out more in oil tax credits than you are collecting in oil production taxes?"

There is no need to replay the SB 21 vs. ACES debate, but with the state running multi-billion-dollar deficits, the governor and lawmakers will need convincing answers to that question and a plan to do something about it.

http://www.adn.com/voices/article/oil-tax-credit-questions-likely-ignite-alaska-debate-2015/2015/01/09/