Alaska News

Conference of Young Alaskans rebukes Parnell oil tax reduction plan

Alaska's future leaders have delivered a sharp rebuke to attempts by Gov. Sean Parnell and some state lawmakers at lowering taxes on oil companies doing business here.

The Conference of Young Alaskans (COYA) and its 54 delegates recently met in the remote capital of Juneau to commemorate the state's Constitutional Convention, some 50 years ago. There, they adopted a resolution supporting the current tax regime, known as ACES, and discouraged any reduction in taxes on oil production, according to a report from the Juneau Empire.

There apparently was a spirited debate among young legislative aides about whether to come out against Parnell's plan. But that wasn't all the delegates discussed. There were also discussions about the future of Alaska's workforce and diversifying the economy beyond natural resource extraction.

COYA 2012 was sponsored by the Institute of the North, which promises to offer the full list of resolutions adopted soon. Check out which young Alaksans served as delegates to the convention. Here's a video archive of the debates, voting and an address from U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Read the full Juneau Empire treatment here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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