Last Friday MDN told you about the latest plan to tax Pennsylvania natural gas–something called a gross receipts tax (see Ploy to Rename PA Severance Tax as “Gross Receipts” Tax). We now have a bit more detail on what that plan is. A gross receipts tax is nothing more than a sales tax that would be assessed on users of natural gas. It’s meant to transfer wealth from those who use natural gas into the pockets of Big Education (i.e. teachers unions), the same way a severance tax was meant to do. There is an important difference between a gross receipts and a severance tax. A severance tax would tax all natgas coming out of the ground. A gross receipts tax would tax only that gas sold and used in Pennsylvania–by end users (consumers, businesses, power companies, etc.). So the gas that gets shipped out of state wouldn’t be taxed. And therein lies the rub. Not only is Wolf & co. trying to use a shell game to move the tax around and make it appear that it’s not a tax on the drilling industry, their plan (we’re convinced) is to get this idiotic tax in place and then, next year or the year after, begin talking about how “unfair” it is that all of that gas going out of state isn’t taxed the way the gas is taxed in state–and “we have to close the loophole.” That’s how the game is played by tax & spend liberals like Wolf. Our advice to GOP legislators: JUST SAY NO. PA has a spending problem–not a taxing problem. Here’s the latest on the gross receipts tax idea…
