Taxation

It’s funny how mainstream media–and liberal Democrats–can turn on a dime. It was just a few days ago we read an AP story endlessly regurgitated across PA about how the PA budget fight had turned “ugly” and “personal” (see Pennsylvania’s ugly budget fight gets personal and regional). The story began this way: “The feel-good bipartisan spirit that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf tried to instill last year in Pennsylvania’s Capitol is gone, stomped to bits in an increasingly ugly budget stalemate. Now, the Capitol seems gripped by a feud that is perhaps less partisan than it is regional and personal.” And now, a few days later, everyone is all-of-a-sudden happy and feeling better. It’s all bipartisan butterflies and unicorns popping up in Harrisburg. Why the change? Because now there are whispers that House Republicans may cave on adopting a Marcellus-killing severance tax. That has the antis, and the Dems (often one and the same) all giddy and feelin’ good. Is there any truth to the rumors?…
Read More “PA House Getting Ready to Cave on Severance Tax? Say it Ain’t So!”

Republicans hold majorities in both the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House. As is happening on the national level, the Republican Party in PA is also rife with establishment, left-leaning members who are not in their positions to benefit their constituents and all residents of the Keystone State, but are there to feather their own nests. Swamp dwellers. They are Republicans In Name Only (RINOs). One such RINO is PA Rep. Kate Harper, a “Republican” from Montgomery County–a Philadelphia suburb. Harper has been in the House since Jan. 2, 2001 (16 years, long past time she was voted out of office). Harper proposed an insane severance tax as part of this year’s budget deal. It’s not her first time at the trough. Harper has been proposing a severance tax for years (see PA RINO Rep. Kate Harper Trots Out Severance Tax, Again). Harper got her nose bent out of joint last week when her latest severance tax proposal, which she was just sure would make it this time, was removed from the budget bill during a committee vote. In responding to that removal, Harper made some inaccurate claims about the severance tax and the drilling industry. PIOGA (Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association) has stepped up to set the record straight on Ms. Harper’s whoppers…
Read More “PIOGA Corrects PA Rep. Kate Harper’s Whoppers on Severance Tax”

Three cheers for Pennsylvania House Republicans. Hip hip, hooray! House Republicans did the near impossible–they held the line against a cockamamie plan to raise all sorts of taxes, including slapping a severance tax on the Marcellus gas industry (on top of the existing impact tax). You may recall our story about a group of hardworking Republican House members who, during the recent recess, did a masterful forensic accounting job of locating existing money sitting idle in a variety of programs and departments–money that can used to plug a deficit in the budget this year (see PA House Introduces Balanced Budget with NO Severance Tax). House members pulled a rabbit out of the hat by finding $2.4 billion in money laying around, unused in various accounts, that they plan to reallocate to the state budget. Yesterday the House voted. As always, battle plans never survive first contact with the enemy. The final version of the House budget plan passed yesterday includes a $1 billion loan from money the state is set to get in the future from the long-ago tobacco company settlement, an expansion of casino-style gambling, and “hundreds of millions” from the money House members found laying around, unused. The key is that there are no new taxes in the House budget plan. No severance tax. No gross receipts tax (on telephone, electricity and natural gas). Read my lips: No New Taxes. They did it! And they are to be applauded for it. Now the plan goes to the Senate where its future is less than certain. Gov. Wolf immediately blasted the House plan because it doesn’t include any new taxes…
Read More “PA House Holds the Line – Passes Budget with No Severance Tax”

The Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee amended a bill yesterday that will rename PA’s impact fee to a “severance tax,” a move which really ticked off the high taxers in the legislature, and anti-drillers (most of them one and the same). The PA House came back into session yesterday and 25 House members (most of them Democrats) made a move to get a vote on a bill with a 3.5% severance tax. The Republican majority on the committee flipped things around and replaced that measure with a vote to rename the impact fee–as a way of illustrating that the industry IS ALREADY TAXED, JUST LIKE A SEVERANCE TAX, even if you don’t call it one. So, let’s just call it one! Brilliant! Of course there are differences between a severance tax and an impact fee–actually the fee is a better revenue generator than a severance tax. However, the point remains: the industry is already paying a high tax, and to slap another on top of it is suicide. Republicans on the committee got their point across…
Read More “PA House Ctte Votes to Rename “Impact Fee” to “Severance Tax””

We’ve written plenty about Philadelphia-area RINO (Republican In Name Only) State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo. In May DiGirolamo introduced yet another severance tax bill (see Tiresome: Philly RINO Rep Gene DiGirolamo Intros Severance Tax Again). Like a bad penny, Gene keeps turning up. Yesterday, without consulting Republican leadership (because, he said, they would have tried to talk him out of it), DiGirolamo introduced his own version of a plan to supply the missing funds to balance the state budget. Like all good Democrats, DiGirolamo’s plan is packed with tax increases, including (yes) a severance tax. Oh wait! He’s a Republican, not a Democrat. Or is he? In addition to slapping a 3% severance tax ON TOP OF the impact fee, DiGirolamo wants to raise the state income tax from 3.07% to 3.32%–a hefty 8.1% increase. Pennsylvanian’s won’t miss it, right? And besides, the teachers unions in Philly really want that money, bad…
Read More “Philly RINO Proposes High-Tax PA Budget, Incl. a 3% Severance Tax”

The Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have done the hard work that PA Senate Republicans failed (or refused) to do: they have just introduced a budget bill that doesn’t raise a single tax, including no horrible severance tax–and yet they will balance a wildly overspent budget. How will they accomplish this feat of Houdini magic? By tapping into the bloated extra money budgeted but not spent by numerous state agencies. For example: mass transit, ports, rails and infrastructure accounts have a cumulative extra $507 million sitting in bank, unused. Why not reallocate it? Hazardous waste and industrial cleanups, agriculture, environmental, conservation and recycling programs have an extra $440.5 million laying around. Why not reallocate it? Etc. House Republicans, unlike their traitorous Senate counterparts, have “found” $2.4 billion in money laying around, unused in other accounts, that they plan to reallocate to the state budget. Genius! This is why House Speaker Mike Turzai should be PA’s next governor, not the inept Tom Wolf…
Read More “PA House Introduces Balanced Budget with NO Severance Tax”

The Allegheny Institute is out with another top notch policy brief. This one tackles the state’s existing impact fee and addresses the issue of why revenues from the impact fee have slid over the past several years. The Institute is not denigrating the impact fee, but lauding it as a better system of taxation than a severance tax. The Allegheny Institute exists to conduct research, education and advocacy work in a mission to defend taxpayers and businesses against burdensome taxation, inefficiency and intrusiveness of an ever expanding government–a pretty tall order because government at all levels is always expanding, like a voracious monster. Think of the Allegheny Institute as a mini version of the Heritage Foundation–focused specifically on Pennsylvania. The newest brief, titled “Shale Gas Impact Fee Revenue Continues to Slide” (full copy below) takes an honest, and hard look, at the impact fee. Researchers conclude that slapping a severance tax on top of the impact fee would be a disaster and violate the state’s commitment to drillers when they passed the impact fee…
Read More “Allegheny Institute: PA Impact Fee is Better than a Severance Tax”

We continue to read articles about the ongoing effort by Pennsylvania Democrats and some squishy Republicans to slap a severance tax on top of an existing impact tax on natural gas drilling in the Keystone State. As we pointed out yesterday, Philadelphia teacher’s unions are in the forefront of a plan to grab money from drillers and funnel it into the pockets of their members (see Drumbeat Continues: Tax PA Shale & Give Money to Teacher’s Unions). The PA Senate cooked up a horrible plan to implement a “modest” severance tax, along with a gross receipts tax that will tax natural gas again, at the consumer level (see Traitorous PA Senate Republicans Pass Severance Tax Bill). The PA House has stood firm, thus far, against the plan. But then we read PA House Majority Leader Dave Reed is beginning to cave (see PA House Beginning to Cave on Severance Tax? Maybe…). We’re now reading about other members, people we long thought solid, like Rep. Garth Everett (Lycoming County) who now says “The new tax on drilling remains an option.” REALLY disappointing, Rep. Everett. The way the conversation is now going, the House doesn’t have the stomach to slap a gross receipts tax (GRT) on natural gas, phones and electric–but they are A.OK with a severance tax. Since the GRT, under the traitorous Senate Republican plan, is supposed to provide around $400 million in revenue and the severance tax $100 million, what happens without the GRT? Will House Republicans ratchet up the severance tax even more? It’s rapidly turning into a mess. Below is the latest chatter we’ve found, along with a new letter from the Marcellus Shale Coalition to the House leadership warning of the precarious situation a new severance tax will create for future job and economic growth in PA…
Read More “More Evidence PA House Repubs Beginning to Cave on Severance Tax”

The steady, daily drumbeat coming from mainstream (i.e. fake) news outlets in Pennsylvania is that the PA House of Representatives is sitting on its hands, dithering, not doing anything about the so-called budget crisis. The fix is, of course, for the House to accept and pass the ludicrous plan from traitorous Senate Republicans that will tax natural gas a total of four times, with four separate taxes (see PA Business Roars Disapproval of Senate’s Plan to Tax Energy 4X). As we have pointed out, for years, PA Gov. Tom Wolf wants to slap a severance tax on top of an impact tax on Marcellus gas as a way of raising money to give to teacher’s unions (i.e. “education”). We’ve shouted this until we are hoarse, yet no one seems to notice that Wolf is attempting political payback by penalizing one industry in favor of another. From time to time we revisit the topic, using mainstream media’s own words against them–to indict them. Here’s yet another example. So-called Rev. Gregory Holston (from Philadelphia) in addressing a rally attempted to make the case that not adopting a Marcellus gas tax is tantamount to racism–because educational funding in PA is “unfair” and the state doesn’t spend enough on minorities in places like Philly. Standing right next to the “Reverend” at the rally was the president of the Philadelphia Teacher’s Union who said, “we are more than happy to lead the charge for a shale tax.” Do you need any more proof to believe our statement that the severance tax is nothing more than a way to funnel money to teacher’s unions?…
Read More “Drumbeat Continues: Tax PA Shale & Give Money to Teacher’s Unions”

MDN has covered the ongoing budget debate in Pennsylvania for months. The PA Senate and House are controlled by Republican majorities–but not necessarily conservative majorities. The Republicans fell into a trap set by the Democrats. They passed a ~$32 billion budget with only enough revenue to pay for $30 billion–meaning there’s a $2 billion gap that needs to be filled. Instead of doing the adult thing–cut spending–they decided to allow more spending and figure out how to pay for it “later on.” Later on came, and of course pressure intensified to punish a single industry–natural gas–in order to make up the shortfall. At the end of July MDN brought you the sad news that Republicans in the Senate sold out and voted for a severance tax (see Traitorous PA Senate Republicans Pass Severance Tax Bill). Now the House remains. Will they sell out too? Under the leadership of Speaker Mike Turzai, we had hoped it would not happen. But a comment made yesterday by House Majority Leader Dave Reed has us wondering. Reed said higher taxes on energy sources used by homeowners, like natural gas, telephone, etc. (called a gross receipts tax) is going nowhere fast. However, as for a Marcellus Shale severance tax, Reed indicated they may deal. Although not an exact quote, one news source said Reed expressed this sentiment in his remarks yesterday: “A tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction, which was in the Senate revenue package and projected to raise about $108 million in the current budget year, could come into play in a compromise plan.” The compromise appears to be if Republicans can get Democrats to privatize state liquor sales and/or legalize video gaming terminals, they would be willing to throw the Marcellus industry under the bus with a severance tax. Nice people, those House Republicans. Let’s hope it’s only Reed who feels that way…
Read More “PA House Beginning to Cave on Severance Tax? Maybe…”