To the editor: If the Division of Justice seeks to override California regulation and laws and invoke the Protection Manufacturing Act to permit offshore oil manufacturing, the state ought to contemplate implementing an oil severance tax, which 42 different states use to fund infrastructure and social packages (“Gasoline costs hovering, Trump administration units stage to OK controversial offshore oil plan,” March 7).
California is among the few U.S. states with no severance tax and depends as an alternative on property taxes. Imposing an oil severance tax, as different states do, may usher in roughly $1.5 billion yearly to California’s coffers.
If California is pressured to allow oil firms to extract oil, urge the state legislature to behave swiftly to oppose this federal motion with an oil severance tax.
Gene Dorio, Santa Clarita
