Offshore oil royalties a rip-off in the making

[leQ]

Taxpayers in 46 states, including Iowa, are about to get ripped off. Big time.

Legislation in Congress to open seabed in the Gulf of Mexico to oil drilling will take money that should belong to the residents of all states and give it to just four - Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama.

Those coastal states would be given 37.5 percent of the royalties from the oil under a Senate version of the bill. Under a House version, they'd get up to 75 percent.

It's estimated the four states could eventually split between $12 billion and $15 billion per year. The latter figure is enough to finance the entire state budget of Iowa nearly three times over.

the Des Moines Register

sound fair to you?

[pooja]

1. actually, no matter who gets the royalties, the people who won't

see any of it either... corp. crooks.

[acmejack]

2. Why sure it does, I live in one of those States.

They will make the argument that for too long we have had a negative flow of tax revenue. It would be nice to get our social services out 50th and 49th in every single category, if it is good, and first or second, if it is bad.