The Bottom Line

Oil Tax Windfall Breaks $100 million for 2007-09 Biennium

According to the Office of Management of Budget, $71 million from oil taxes were deposited in the General fund by December 2007, since then, over $100 million has been deposited into the permanent oil trust fund.

If oil prices continue to exceed $100 barrel, the oil trust fund will be on pace to have a balance of nearly $700 million including the $136 million that was left in the trust fund last legislative session.

This is an absolutely huge amount of money that can be saved for future generations with the passage of Constitutional Measure #1 in November's General Election.

A new survey published by the National Federation of Independent Businesses verifies that North Dakota's Small Business understand the need for income tax cuts and support AFP's efforts to reduce the personal and corporate income tax rates in North Dakota.

"The Board of Higher Education has now decided that it is time for the taxpayers to feel the same pain that students have been feeling for the last decade," said state policy director Dustin Gawrylow. "Tuition has more than doubled for all students in North Dakota in the last decade. In the same time, taxpayer funding of higher education has increase by 50%. This new round of funding will now match the students' percentage cost increase without saving the students one red penny."

BISMARCK, N.D — Yesterday, a subcommittee of the North Dakota Board of Higher Education approved a 53% general fund spending increase that would still allow tuition for students to increase by 4% each year.