This guest post was submitted by Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger, a Republican. North Dakota continues to produce oil at record levels and it is important we recognize the changes being made to help keep this industry vibrant. In the next two-year budget cycle, the Office of State Tax Commissioner will collect $5 billion in tax…
North Dakota Oil Production up 20 Percent Over Biennium Forecast, Tax Collections up 10 Percent
In his state of the state address this week Governor Doug Burgum warned that North Dakota isn’t out of the woods yet when it comes to the state budget. That said, a revived oil industry in the state is bringing state policymakers some good news. North Dakota lawmakers just got a report on revenues from…
Double Taxing the Oil Industry Is a Good Way for the Three Affiliated Tribes to Lose a Lot of Money
UPDATE: A reader points out that the Three Affiliated Tribes owns their own oil development company called Missouri River Resources. That seems like a very big conflict of interest. A tribal-owned oil company is going to be operating at a distinct advantage under a dual state-and-tribal tax regime. Back during their 2015 session North Dakota lawmakers removed…
Wow: Senator Heidi Heitkamp Says She’ll Vote to Keep Obama’s Duplicative, Harmful Methane Rule
UPDATE: The final Senate vote on this was 51-49. It failed. Had Heitkamp voted the other way the tie would have been settled in favor of passing the CRA with Vice President Pence’s vote. On his way out the door earlier this year former President Barack Obama committed an act of regulatory vandalism. He instituted a…
Audio: Tribal Leader on Carlson’s Casino Bill: “I’ll Never Try to Explain Exactly What He’s Thinking in His Head”
Last week House Majority Leader Al Carlson dropped a bit of a bombshell on state politics. He announced a proposed constitutional amendment which would allow the state government to operate up to a half dozen casinos. The state already has five casinos operated by tribal governments in Indian country, in addition to a limited amount…
What if the Fort Laramie Treaty Actually Required Standing Rock to Accept the Dakota Access Pipeline?
There has been a lot of talk of late about treaties from the protesters trying to block the Dakota Access Pipeline, with the assertion that the land the pipeline is being built on is land the Sioux people never ceded to the federal government. “Today, the Oceti Sakowin has enacted eminent domain on DAPL lands,…
Three Affiliated Tribes Should Keep in Mind That #NoDAPL Is Not Really a Pipeline Safety Protest
The Three Affiliated Tribes of the Forth Berthold Reservation have profited enormously from the oil boom in North Dakota. Roughly a third of the oil produced in North Dakota comes from their tribal lands, and that in turn has plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into tribal coffers. These numbers are a little out of…
Tribe Protesting Dakota Access Pipeline Didn’t Bother to Show up to Regulatory Hearings
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has been hosting a (not at all peaceful) protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers in south central North Dakota. To hear the protesters tell it the pipeline is an existential threat to the tribal community. “The Dakota Access Pipeline project is…
Fort Berthold Tribes Say They'll Stay In Oil Tax Agreement With The State For Now
The Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation have been expressing some consternation for some time now over the oil tax reforms passed by state lawmakers earlier this year. The legislature replaced a massive oil tax cut triggered by low oil prices with modest reforms to the tax rate. Starting on January 1…
What's Really Motivating Tribal Saber Rattling Over Oil Tax Reforms?
The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation – also know as the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation – are continuing to make noises about withdrawing from what has been an extremely lucrative oil tax deal with the State of North Dakota. “North Dakota Native Americans hint at exiting state oil tax deal,”…
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