Alaskans set to vote in most expensive primary election in state history

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/article/20140818/alaskans-set-vote-most-expensive-primary-election-state-history



Dueling campaign signs encourage motorists driving along Muldoon Road on Monday, August 18, 2014, to vote in their favor on Ballot Measure 1 during Tuesday's Primary Election.

Alaskans set to vote in most expensive primary election in state history
Nathaniel Herz,Alex DeMarban,Richard Mauer
August 18, 2014

Alaskans will issue a final decision Tuesday on a controversial new oil tax regime, and pick a Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Begich.

Tuesday’s decisions come after the most expensive primary campaign in Alaska history, with the referendum on a 2013 oil tax cut drawing some $15 million in spending, almost entirely from industry groups trying to keep the new tax system in place, and more than $15 million from the campaigns of the GOP Senate candidates, along with their allies and opponents.

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The hotly contested referendum on the oil tax repeal -- the only proposition on Tuesday’s ballot -- follows a 2013 vote by the state Legislature that instituted a new tax system for oil producers. The new law -- Senate Bill 21, or the More Alaska Production Act -- went into effect this year, replacing Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share, which was signed into law in 2007 by then-Gov. Sarah Palin.

Oil companies said the former law was discouraging investment, thanks to tax rates that rose as oil prices increased. Last year, Gov. Sean Parnell worked with legislators to pass the new tax regime, which cut taxes in a bid to get the oil companies to spend more and boost production.