Taxation

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Taxation

Trump Defeats United Nations Carbon Tax on Global Shipping
October 20, 2025October 20, 2025

Nations at a meeting of the UN’s International Maritime Organization voted to delay by one year a decision on a global tax on carbon emissions from shipping. The U.S. campaigned against the measure, with President Donald Trump and other officials arguing it was an “untenable global carbon tax” that would harm the U.S. economy. The delay, a major win for Trump, was backed by 57 countries, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia, while European nations and the UK, which had supported the regulations, were on the losing side of the vote. Read More “Trump Defeats United Nations Carbon Tax on Global Shipping”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY | Taxation

RGGI Good at Taxing Electric Consumers, Bad at Lowering Emissions
October 9, 2025October 9, 2025

We’ve been critical of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon dioxide assessed on power-generating plants in the northeastern U.S., since Pennsylvania’s then-Governor, Tom Wolf, unilaterally tried to force his state into the plan in 2019 via Executive Order (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). The states that currently belong to RGGI are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. PA’s status is pending a lawsuit that the Democrats on the PA Supreme Court refuse to rule on until after the election in November. Supporters of this insane carbon tax claim it lowers carbon dioxide emissions. We have incontrovertible proof that this is a lie. Read More “RGGI Good at Taxing Electric Consumers, Bad at Lowering Emissions”
Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

WV Severance Tax Collections Up 10.8% Thx to NatGas Price, Production
October 7, 2025October 7, 2025

According to West Virginia Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow, the state’s severance tax collections are rebounding, with $82.2 million collected so far this fiscal year, representing a 10.8% increase over the same period last year. The rise reflects higher natural gas prices—up about 50% from last year. Production is up too—a 5.5% increase—which helps. Coal production is up, though prices, especially for metallurgical coal, have declined. September collections alone were $51.7 million, exceeding estimates by $16.3 million. Read More “WV Severance Tax Collections Up 10.8% Thx to NatGas Price, Production”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Rep. Wants More Drilling on State Land to Replace School Tax
August 27, 2025August 27, 2025

PA State Rep. Jason Ortitay

Just because something has been done for decades and decades doesn’t mean it can’t change. Case in point: Pennsylvania Republican State Representative Jason Ortitay is proposing a new bill for the Keystone State that establishes the Pennsylvania Education Endowment Fund, utilizing expanded natural gas drilling on state lands and other innovative revenue sources to replace all the money taxpayers currently pay ($16 billion) to support public schools. Brilliant! Read More “PA Rep. Wants More Drilling on State Land to Replace School Tax”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Produces More Carbon-Free Power Than Any RGGI State
August 27, 2025August 27, 2025

It’s hard to believe we’re still talking about (and waiting for) the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to weigh in on whether or not it was legal for former Governor Tom Wolf to unilaterally sentence all Pennsylvanians to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme—with no vote by the legislature. The Supremes collected briefs on RGGI a whole year ago (see PA Supreme Court Lib Dems Collecting Briefs on RGGI Carbon Tax). And still no decision. When the state constitution is followed, it gives ONLY the legislature the right to impose new taxes on the citizenry. Wolf ignored that law and decided to do it himself. Calling RGGI a “fee” instead of a “tax” doesn’t change the fact that it’s a tax. Read More “PA Produces More Carbon-Free Power Than Any RGGI State”
Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

WV Oil & Gas Production Up, $$ from Severance, Property Tax Up Too
August 26, 2025August 26, 2025

West Virginia’s oil, gas, and coal industries are experiencing a resurgence, fueled by supportive state and federal policies. Gas & Oil Association of West Virginia (GO-WV) President Charlie Burd reports that Fiscal Year FY25 severance tax collections rose to $318 million, alongside record natural gas production, 90% of which is exported out of the state. Property taxes levied on oil and gas in the state were $428 million for FY24 (the 2025 numbers are not out yet). Burd said the O&G industry continues to directly employ around 15,000 people. Read More “WV Oil & Gas Production Up, $$ from Severance, Property Tax Up Too”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

Rover Pipeline Loses Ohio Supreme Court Decision to Lower Tax Bill
August 14, 2025August 14, 2025

Rover Pipeline, a 713-mile natural gas pipeline, was designed to carry up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus and Utica gas from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio to destinations in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and Canada. The project was completed and came online in late 2018 (see FERC OKs Final 2 Rover Pipeline Laterals – Now 100% Online). Rover’s original estimated cost to build the project was $4.08 billion. It ultimately cost $6.3 billion, as historically high rainfall led to additional unforeseen expenses, delays, and inspections. Most of the pipeline runs through Ohio, which assesses a property tax on such projects. Rover and Ohio disagree over the value to be assigned to the pipeline for annual taxation purposes. After several appeals, the case headed to the Ohio Supreme Court in May (see Rover Pipeline Heads to Ohio Supreme Court to Lower Tax Assessment). The Supremes issued their ruling yesterday, and it didn’t go Rover’s way. Read More “Rover Pipeline Loses Ohio Supreme Court Decision to Lower Tax Bill”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Shapiro DEP Looks to Soak Shale Drillers More with Annual Ops “Fee”
August 11, 2025August 11, 2025

We have some disturbing news to share, and not a lot of details (yet). Executive Order 1996-1 in Pennsylvania requires all agencies under the jurisdiction of the Governor to submit for publication (twice a year) an agenda of regulations under development or consideration. The agendas are compiled to provide members of the regulated community and the general public with advanced notice of regulatory activity. The Josh Shapiro administration published such a semi-annual list over the weekend in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) includes an item in its list of proposed new regulations that “proposes to establish an annual fee for unconventional operations.” Read More “Shapiro DEP Looks to Soak Shale Drillers More with Annual Ops “Fee””
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Taxation

Big Tax Loophole for OH Gas-Fired Power Plants Owned by Data Centers
August 4, 2025August 4, 2025

Data centers are all the rage these days. It seems like a new data center is announced weekly somewhere in the Eastern U.S. Ohio has its fair share of them coming to the Buckeye State (see our Ohio data center stories here). Back in 2013, the state passed a law incentivizing companies to build data centers in the state. Now, the state is seeing a flood of new data centers. Data centers need a lot of power, and they need it badly. So, many of the data centers are building captive gas-fired power plants to provide electricity. Gas-fired power plants don’t get big tax breaks like data centers do, but in this case, the gas-fired plants are considered part of the data center, ergo, they qualify for the tax break. Ooops. Read More “Big Tax Loophole for OH Gas-Fired Power Plants Owned by Data Centers”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

MSC Strongly Opposes PA Bill to Add Severance Tax to Impact Fee
July 22, 2025July 22, 2025

On July 8, PA State Senator Art Haywood (Democrat from Philadelphia) introduced PA Senate Bill (SB) 910, which slaps a 6.5% severance tax on the gross production of all oil and natural gas produced in the state (see PA Dems Propose Bill to Add Severance Tax On Top of Impact Fee). The language of the bill would impose the severance tax in addition to the existing impact fee, meaning drillers (and landowners) would be taxed twice for the same activity. Gotta love them Dems and their appetite for taxing things they hate (and the things they love). The Marcellus Shale Coalition has issued a letter to the state legislature, strongly opposing SB 910. Read More “MSC Strongly Opposes PA Bill to Add Severance Tax to Impact Fee”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Dems Propose Bill to Add Severance Tax On Top of Impact Fee
July 15, 2025July 15, 2025

You gotta hand it to Pennsylvania Democrats. They LOVE LOVE LOVE to tax other people’s money—especially companies and industries that they hate, like the state’s oil and gas industry. On July 8, PA State Senator Art Haywood (Democrat from Philadelphia) introduced PA Senate Bill (SB) 910, which slaps a 6.5% severance tax on the gross production of all oil and natural gas produced in the state. However, the bill goes further by repealing the provision in the 2012 Act 13 law that states that if a severance tax is ever implemented, the existing impact fee would be eliminated. In other words, Haywood’s bill eliminates the provision to end the impact fee, meaning the impact fee would remain in place. So, drillers would be taxed twice for the same thing. Fortunately, the bill is DOA in the Senate. Read More “PA Dems Propose Bill to Add Severance Tax On Top of Impact Fee”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA PUC Distributes 2024 Impact Fee – Revenue Dropped $15M YOY
June 24, 2025June 24, 2025

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced the distribution of $164,592,500 in natural gas impact fees collected from producers for the 2024 reporting year. The bad news is that the impact fee raised $15 million less than it did in 2023, the prior year. The good news is that the state Independent Fiscal Office predicts the impact fee for 2025 will soar by $70 million to roughly $235 million (see PA IFO Predicts 2025 Impact Tax Revenue Increasing $70M from 2024). The further good news is that this year’s distribution of $164.6 million brings the cumulative total of impact fees collected and distributed since 2012 to over $2.88 billion. Read More “PA PUC Distributes 2024 Impact Fee – Revenue Dropped $15M YOY”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA IFO Predicts 2025 Impact Tax Revenue Increasing $70M from 2024
June 23, 2025June 23, 2025

The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) is out with an initial estimate for how much money will be raised and distributed from the 2025 impact fee assessment. The IFO projects that impact fee revenue will increase by $70 million in 2025 compared to the revenue collected in 2024. IFO predicts revenues will hit around $235 million. The impact fee is PA’s version of a severance tax. The impact fee generated $164.6 million in 2024 and $179.6 million in 2023. Read More “PA IFO Predicts 2025 Impact Tax Revenue Increasing $70M from 2024”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

Rover Pipeline Heads to Ohio Supreme Court to Lower Tax Assessment
May 29, 2025May 29, 2025

Rover Pipeline, a 713-mile natural gas pipeline, was designed to carry up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus and Utica gas from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio to destinations in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and Canada. The project was completed and came online in late 2018 (see FERC OKs Final 2 Rover Pipeline Laterals – Now 100% Online). Rover’s original estimated cost to build the project was $4.08 billion. It ultimately cost $6.3 billion, as historically high rainfall led to additional unforeseen expenses, delays, and inspections stemming from the excessive rain. Most of the pipeline runs through Ohio, which assesses a property tax on such projects. Rover and Ohio disagree over the value to be assigned to the pipeline for annual taxation purposes. The case is heading to the Ohio Supreme Court next week. Read More “Rover Pipeline Heads to Ohio Supreme Court to Lower Tax Assessment”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Taxation

Fed. Bill Would Fix Biden’s Attack Against O&G Via the Tax Code
May 22, 2025May 22, 2025

If you’ve ever run a business or have been self-employed, you know how important it is to claim every legitimate deduction on your tax return. Anyone with a brain knows that wages, fuel, and repairs are expenses, the “cost of doing business”—especially in the oil and gas business. Yet in their zeal to destroy fossil energy, the Bidenistas inserted new regulations in the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a law made possible by the single vote of former West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (who will live in infamy for his vote), relabeling such deductions as “subsidies” for the oil and gas industry (but no other industries). The Bidenistas eliminated those legitimate deductions so that O&G companies could no longer claim them as deductions, at least not the full value in the year in which they are spent. It’s nuts! There’s a new bill in Congress to correct this attack against the fossil energy industry. Read More “Fed. Bill Would Fix Biden’s Attack Against O&G Via the Tax Code”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments re RGGI Carbon Tax
May 14, 2025May 14, 2025

Yesterday, the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (five Democrats and two Republicans) heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that attempts to force PA to accept the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants. Former Democrat Governor Tom Wolf tried to force the state to join RGGI in 2019 (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). His successor, Josh Shapiro (also a Democrat), doubled down and also wants to force PA into the RGGI carbon tax scheme. Republicans in the state Senate sued, claiming the legislature, not the executive branch, has the power to join or not join RGGI. Read More “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments re RGGI Carbon Tax”