From the beginning of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s disastrous administration, we have told you the unvarnished truth: Wolf’s call for a high tax on Marcellus Shale gas production is a giveaway, a pay-back, to teachers unions for their support of him in defeating Republican Gov. Tom Corbett (see PA Gov Wolf Proposes Marcellus-Killing 7.5% Severance Tax). Wolf held up the first budget by nine months, wreaking havoc on the state, over this very issue–screw the Marcellus industry to give its money to teachers (i.e. for “education” and “for the children”). What a boatload of horse manure. As we’ve repeatedly SHOUTED–PA already has the equivalent of a severance tax. It’s called an impact fee plus a corporate income tax. When you take the two together, the average “tax” paid by Marcellus drillers is HIGHER than that paid in other big oil and gas states, like Texas and Oklahoma. Enacting an ADDITIONAL severance tax on top of it–even in place of it–would be a disaster, shutting down most Marcellus drilling. And yes, there is gas in other states and yes drillers will leave PA if such a tax is enacted. And yet unions, like AFSCME Council 13, continue to pedal lies about the severance tax…
