Senator proposes oil severance tax to fund higher education

By Seif Abdelghaffar. A bill introduced by a California state senator early in February would impose oil taxes to fund public higher education. Introduced by Sen. Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, SB 241 would allow the state Department of Conservation to administer a 9.9 percent oil severance tax on companies extracting oil in California. According to Senator Evans’ communications director Teala Schaff, 93 percent of the tax revenues would be allocated to public higher education while 7 percent would go toward renovating state parks.
“California doesn’t tax on oil, so it is a fairness issue because other states have oil taxes, and if people take something from the state through oil, this is a way for us to give something back to the state,” Shaff said. Read more...