Last week I attended a “town hall” style meeting for the Fix the Tax movement. I was interested in hearing what they have to say, and to me it makes sense: keeping North Dakota’s oil extraction tax competitive with other states will keep the oil companies drilling here, which in turn generates revenue and jobs (in other words, prosperity) for North Dakota.

On the panel above are radio host Scott Hennen, Dustin Gawrylow (ND Taxpayers’ Association), former Governor Ed Schafer, Brett Narloch (ND Policy Council), and Grover Norquist. Each had something very interesting to say from a different standpoint.

After each presented their ideas about the extraction tax, microphones made their way around the room for people to chime in. There were plenty of stories about rigs moving to states with lower taxes, even now. Governor Ed made the point that North Dakota only sees revenue when oil is extracted from the ground, not when one pilot well is drilled.

The math would seem to be in their favor: where one well is being drilled now, three or four would be drilled with a lower extraction tax. Knock off a percentage point in order to compete with Montana, for instance, and triple the output, and the result is more revenue for North Dakota. That means more money for infrastructure, et cetera.

Want more details to make up your own mind? Visit FixTheTax.com to hear what they have to say.