Ballot Measure 1 (Alaska)

[ElectionsGuy]

Description: Repeals bill that grants tax breaks to oil companies. Full Details

[SWE]

Yes

[Goldwater]

No

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Yes. End corporate welfare.

[Flake]

Yes

[Sopranos Republican]

Yes obviously.

[ElectionsGuy]

Yes. End corporate welfare.

Would cutting taxes on people be considered a form of welfare?

[Lambsbread]

Yes.

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Yes. End corporate welfare.

Would cutting taxes on people be considered a form of welfare?

Not in the traditional conception of welfare, but I think we can consider it a form, yes. If we view the tax cut as a lens of putting the tax rate below where it should be, then we're "giving" money back to that bracket. I realize that saying where a tax rate should be is very much a subjective measure, but temporary cuts (e.g. Bush/Obama tax cut) are a more black and white implementation.

[ElectionsGuy]

Yes. End corporate welfare.

Would cutting taxes on people be considered a form of welfare?

Not in the traditional conception of welfare, but I think we can consider it a form, yes. If we view the tax cut as a lens of putting the tax rate below where it should be, then we're "giving" money back to that bracket. I realize that saying where a tax rate should be is very much a subjective measure, but temporary cuts (e.g. Bush/Obama tax cut) are a more black and white implementation.

OK, I was just wondering because corporate welfare sometimes is really just a political term thrown out there without any meaning. I don't think I would consider giving tax cuts to corporations corporate welfare, but I would consider government giving money to them corporate welfare.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yes (sane)

[TDAS04]

Yes. 

[TNF]

Yes. Fossil fuel exploration should be dis-incentivized by the tax code, rather than reinforced by it.

[Miles]

No.

[RogueBeaver]

No.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No.

So you had Huey Long in your sig for a while, but you support tax giveaways to Big Oil?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Only if tax breaks for everyone else is included in the deal. I wouldn't call this corporate welfare, but I can't support tax breaks for some and not for others.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I don't understand the conservative logic that claims renewable subsidies are evil, but subsidies by any other name to fossil fuels are a-ok.

[Deus Naturae]

I don't understand the conservative logic that claims renewable subsidies are evil, but subsidies by any other name to fossil fuels are a-ok.

Money not paid in taxes is not a "subsidy." By that logic, everything one owns is a subsidy from the government, and the term is meaningless. That said, some conservatives are hypocritical on this as there have been efforts by Republicans to repeal tax credits to wind farms on the basis that they're a form of subsidy.

[RI]

If I lived in Alaska, I'd probably vote no.

[politicallefty]

I'd really like to know what goes though the heads of those who support giving tax breaks to some of the most profitable companies in the world. No company (such as Exxon) that makes in excess of $40 billion/year in profits should get any preferential treatment from the government.

[Indy Texas]

Yes. End corporate welfare.

Would cutting taxes on people be considered a form of welfare?

When you tell someone they don't have to pay a tax that they otherwise would have to pay, the "welfare" is the amount of taxes they got out of paying. That's money in their pocket that otherwise would not be there.

[Indy Texas]

I don't understand the conservative logic that claims renewable subsidies are evil, but subsidies by any other name to fossil fuels are a-ok.

Money not paid in taxes is not a "subsidy." By that logic, everything one owns is a subsidy from the government, and the term is meaningless. That said, some conservatives are hypocritical on this as there have been efforts by Republicans to repeal tax credits to wind farms on the basis that they're a form of subsidy.

Money you don't pay in taxes that you otherwise would be were it not for a specific type of tax cut/exemption (sometimes called a "tax expenditure") is obviously a subsidy.

[Maxwell]

Yes, since this is basically an oil subsidy.

[Deus Naturae]

When you tell someone they don't have to pay a tax that they otherwise would have to pay, the "welfare" is the amount of taxes they got out of paying. That's money in their pocket that otherwise would not be there.

Well, yes. I have money in my pocket that otherwise would not be there if there were a 100% income tax. Is that a "subsidy?" I guess the profits of oil companies are a form of "subsidy" from companies that buy oil, just like every business in existence is "subsidized" by the consumers who patronize it. The point is that it isn't a government subsidy, which is what "corporate welfare" typically refers to.