But the boom is here for a while and we need to take advantage of it in new ways. Right now much of the revenue to the state comes from severance taxes and royalties paid to the State Land Office for taking state owned oil out of the ground from trust lands. The money from these systems are used for only certain things. It is time for the legislature to widen the opportunities for using these monies. And, raise the taxes generally on oil production here to help pay for the coming disasters brought on by climate change.
The oil boys say the pay for everything through current taxes, despite the fact they are subsidized. But in fact they pay nothing for the damage they, and we, are inflicting. None of us are paying enough. So, we consumers of fossil fuels must pay too. The best and most productive way would be to raise the gasoline tax by 15 cents a gallon. Use that money to rebuild our infrastructure and strengthen renewable energy. Take all subsidies now going to fossil fuels and put it into solar development.
This all makes sense, really, so it will not be allowed to happen by oil industry mascots in the Congress and Legislature.
3 comments:
I like the 15 cent tax on gasoline to support renewable energy. I think that would be very difficult to get that passed in NM right now, however.
Here's former APD cops Doyle and Grover laying it down on national media. Good job fellas:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y7tON6AlxnM
That's an excellent idea. They can't dig up an oil well and move it to another state. They can't even threaten to.
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