How Severance Taxes Built 5 American Sovereign Wealth Funds

How Severance Taxes Built 5 American Sovereign Wealth Funds

In 1981, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Commonwealth Edison v. Montana that the state of Montana had the right to impose a severance tax on oil companies, ushering in a wave of new state sovereign wealth funds.

Richard E. Caroll is a retired economist and has been published in Real Clear Defense, International Policy Digest, and Foreign Policy News. He is a regular contributor to The National Interest.

Image: Reuters.