My Review on Sarah Palin's Book - Going Rogue

[Pressing-On]

I'm halfway through Sarah's book, Going Rogue, and I found a part that especially expresses how I view her. Incidentally, Rush is right, it's a great policy book!

I have a few more quotes that I want to share after I locate them. I'm really enjoying this book!

The two sides of Sarah Palin:


Sarah Palin the Executive:

My feeling was that not only did PPT (Petroleum Profits Tax) need the absolute attention of the legislators, Alaskans needed to know the details weren't buried in the politics and lifestyle of a normal legislative session.

Throughout the summer, the revenue and natural resources team discussed the clearest way to put a value on our resources. We poured over options. One idea was to scrap PPT entirely and create a more transparent valuation system based on a formula that was clearly understandable and would increase public confidence. We needed to improve the state's audit function, enabling us to obtain forward-looking cost data from producers. We also felt it was critical to introduce economic information sharing between the departments of revenue and natural resources and the Alaska public, something that was sorely lacking under PPT.

After my astute team of experts put their heads together, we arrived at an entirely new way of calculating Alaska's share of revenue derived from resource development: a hybrid system that included a minimum tax on gross receipts for the North Slope's oil fields, plus part of a net profits tax to encourage new development and reinvestment in existing infrastructure via incentives we'd provide entrepreneurs keen on new exploration. It allowed for tax credits on future work, restricted captial expense deductions to scheduled maintenance, and implemented strong audit and information-sharing provisions. The new formula would incentivize the industry to produce more, while protecting the public.

Just Sarah - down to earth:

If that kind of explanation makes your eyes cross, it's because we didn't yet have a catchy name for our proposal. Everything in government attracts an obligatory acronym, it seems, so we figured the one assigned to this plan might as well be memorable and positive. Political terms are meant to paint a picture. For example, liberals prefer the term "social justice" over "welfare" and why conservatives prefer "marriage protection" amendment over "gay marrigage ban".