New oil tax rules drawing complaints from industry over defining "new oil"

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http://www.adn.com/2013/08/22/3038229/new-oil-tax-rules-drawing-complaints.html

New oil tax rules drawing complaints from industry over defining "new oil"
Published: August 22, 2013 Updated 4 hours ago
By LISA DEMER

State revenue officials struggling to implement Alaska's new oil tax law are getting complaints from the industry that their proposed new rules are both bewildering and too demanding .

While the overall effective date was Monday, the big oil tax changes, including a flat tax on oil profits, become law on Jan. 1. As the Parnell administration tries to craft rules to implement the controversial law, Democrats who fought it all along are launching fresh attacks on it.

The oil companies want the broadest possible definition of "new oil" because new production will be entitled to the biggest tax breaks. That is intended as an incentive for the companies to invest and produce oil that wouldn't have been produced otherwise.

The Parnell administration insists it's not going to give the tax breaks freely and proposes that in some cases the flow of oil be metered from individual wells to prove that new oil is being produced. But industry officials are protesting, saying such metering is impractical.