Since John McCain wants to suspend the gasoline tax to reduce the price of a gallon of gas, why doesn't he ask his running mate to cut the exorbitant oil and gas severance tax that Alaska charges the rest of America? The Alaska Department of Revenue calculates the Weighted Average Severance Tax Rate at 16.9% of the wellhead value of Alaskan oil. See the Consolidated Annual Financial Report for the State of Alaska, Schedule B-2.

The reason that Alaska has no sales tax and no income tax is that it charges an oil and gas severance tax that is passed on to consumers in the other 49 states. We pay that oil and gas tax at the pump and in our monthly gas bill, and the taxes that we pay to Alaska are enough to supply 89% of Alaska's Unrestricted General Revenue! The Federal Government is Alaska's second largest revenue source. So you and our neighbors in the lower 48 are paying about 89% of Sarah Palin’s salary!

In fact, Alaskans are rolling in our dough. The Alaskan State Government owns a corporation called the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation with a market value of over $35.9 billion. This government-owned, government-operated corporation pays each Alaskan a dividend check every year. Last year, every Alaskan who has resided in the state for one year and who meets other eligibility requirements (including Sarah, Todd, and each of the four Palin children) got $1,654! Even legal aliens get the dividend check! And you, the American consumer of Alaskan oil, paid for it.

Does the Governor of Alaska really face the same challenges, choices and problems that governors of other states must confront? Imagine how easy it would be to be governor knowing that you can charge an exorbitant tax, that the people who must pay the tax can't vote you out of office, and they aren't even told that it is included in their bill?

And isn't it easy to understand why Sarah Palin is eager to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge and build a natural gas pipeline? Is Sarah Palin a reformer? You decide.