JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) ? The Alaska Senate version of an oil tax bill did not come up for a floor vote as planned Thursday, after members of the Senate majority failed to garner the votes necessary to pass the measure. The development followed closed-door meetings among members of the bipartisan majority Thursday that pushed back the start of the scheduled 11 a.m. floor session. The bill retains the current base tax rate of 25 percent but scraps the current progressive surcharge triggered when a company's production tax value hits $30 a barrel. The bill calls for a progressive severance tax that would be levied on gross production after royalties and solely on oil, thereby decoupling oil and gas for tax purposes and addressing the current drag on revenues when oil prices are high relative to gas. The executive director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Kara Moriarty, urged senators to vote "no" on the bill, SB192, saying it wouldn't lead to the kind of investment the state wants to boost oil production and would be a tax increase for some oil producers. Parnell said Wednesday that he would call lawmakers into special session if the Senate passed an oil tax bill by Sunday to ensure the House has time to review the bill. On Thursday, he said the decision to take the bill off the calendar and kick it to the Senate Rules Committee came down simply to numbers.
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