Pennsylvania Budget Almost There – With No Drilling Tax

| | |

Philadelphia Inquirer (Oct 9):
Pa. budget pieces start to fall into place

With a state budget still not adopted, and now over 100 days late, Pennsylvania is finally about there. The good news for drillers…no severance tax this year:

Also not in the package is a tax that some lawmakers had wanted to impose on natural-gas drilling in the vast formation known as the Marcellus Shale.

Republicans in the Senate – and later Rendell – opposed starting such a tax this year, arguing that it would stunt drillers in an industry still in its infancy in the state.

Kudos to the Republican Senate for protecting landowners’ money.