PA Budget Passes House & Senate with No Severance Tax

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Hats off to the Republican-controlled House and Senate in Pennsylvania. They passed a budget on time, before the midnight deadline last evening, and that budget contains just one new tax. Fortunately, it’s not a Marcellus Shale severance tax. So, kudos! However, the budget was not signed by PA Gov. Tom Corbett, also a Republican. He didn’t sign not because it because it didn’t include certain pension reforms he wants. One thing that the Democrats really wanted and the Republicans were only too happy to grant them: A new $2 per pack tax on cigarettes sold in Philadelphia, which is supposed to raise $80 million for Philly schools. Wait til they figure out everyone is fleeing to the suburbs to buy cheap cigs and the new tax fails!…

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