Comments for Another tax bill bites the dust at http://www.theind.com , comment 1 to 3 out of 3 comments http://www.theind.com Sun, 19 May 2013 03:30:23 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/8353-another-tax-bill-bites-the-dust#comment-18077 If all property in the state were taxed fairly we would never be short of funds again. That is until the politicians and the political elite would get their greedy hands on the money. We are taxed enough already. Consumers pay taxes, not corporations!! My God, leave the energy industry alone!! If they leave Louisiana we will all be in the bread line. Doesn't anyone remember the OIL BUST OF THE 80'S? - The Original Northsidian Wed, 25 May 2011 19:43:14 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/8353-another-tax-bill-bites-the-dust#comment-18020 If the legislature was truly devoted to raising revenue for the state, the severance tax exemption granted to wells drilled horizontally would be repealed. This exemption was granted by the Foster Administration in 1994 in a effort of increasing drilling in Louisiana. In 1994, horizontal drilling was an experimental and developmental approach to drilling wells. Such is no longer the case. However, today, horizontally drilled wells are the predominate method employed for drilling either oil or gas wells. Because of this severance tax exemption, any oil or gas produced from a well drilled horizontally is exempt from paying any severance taxes. As such, all of the natural gas produced in the Haynesville Trend here in Louisiana is exempted from paying severance taxes. The USGS in February of '11 assessed the Haynesville Trend as the most productive natural gas field in the United States, surpassing even the Barnett Trend in Texas, and that production from the Trend averages 5.50BCG(that's billion cubic feet) per day. All of this production as well as the production from any other oil or gas well in Louisiana is exempted from paying severance taxes. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Mississippi do not provide such an exemption but Louisiana continues to allow such. The loss of revenue from production in the Haynesville Trend alone has been estimated to be between 250-400 million dollars a year--from this one production area alone! God only knows how much money Louisiana is losing because horizontally drilled wells allow the producers to take advantage of such an exemption. It could literally amount to billions of revenue the state needs ever so badly. - RODEOCLOWN Tue, 24 May 2011 15:58:10 +0100 http://www.theind.com/news/indreporter/8353-another-tax-bill-bites-the-dust#comment-18017 Bills of this nature are absolutely worthless. Similar types of legislation periodically find their way to various state legislatures. The last one I can remember was introduced during the Roemer administration. Such legislation is illegal because it constitutes a violation of the commerce clause, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution, in as much as such legislation, if allowed, would result inhibiting the free, unimpeded flow of goods and services through the country. If allowed, such legislation would result in a restriction of free trade and would cripple commerce in the United States. Such legislation is always of a populist nature, i.e, something politicians propose to look good. I refer to such attempts as the "Charlie Tuna Technique". The proposals "look good" but the reality is such proposals never/ever taste good because the proposals are totally illegal and unenforceable. - RODEOCLOWN Tue, 24 May 2011 15:28:53 +0100