Taxation

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    ATEX Express Ethane Pipeline Says it’s Tax-Exempt in Ohio

    School districts and local governments in 13 Ohio counties along which the ATEX (Appalachia-to-Texas Express) natural gas liquids pipeline runs, are miffed that ATEX doesn’t want to pay property taxes on the pipeline. The 1,230-mile ATEX pipeline originates in Washington County, PA and connects to four fractionators in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region. The pipeline, which crosses 265 miles of Ohio, went online in early 2014 (see Let it Flow! ATEX Ethane Pipeline Testing Now, Online Soon). State law stipulates that only pipelines classified as public utilities are liable for property taxes. Private, non-public utility pipelines are not on the hook for local property taxes. However, ATEX may be liable for Ohio’s commercial activity tax…
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    Hunger Games: G7 Seeks to End all Fossil Fuel Use This Century

    The Hunger GamesThere is no escaping the fact that when a group of hardened socialists get together, bad things happen. Witness the meeting called the G7 that took place in Germany yesterday. The assembled “leaders” of seven of the world’s biggest economies, including Barack H. Obama, agreed to commit their respect countries to committing economic suicide–i.e., ending the use of fossil fuels by the end of this century. By the middle of this century (35 years from now), they aim to reduce burning fossil fuels by “40 to 70 percent in the 2010 global emission levels of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.” What happens when, by 2050, everyone figures out that mankind burning fossil fuels actually doesn’t cause so-called global warming? The threat of global warming is yet another sham, another way to convince people to willingly give up their freedom so so-called smart people will “save them” from themselves. It’s sick…
    Read More “Hunger Games: G7 Seeks to End all Fossil Fuel Use This Century”

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    The Worm Begins to Turn re Gov. Tom Wolf’s Severance Tax

    A mixed editorial by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s ill-dated severance tax plan. The Post-Gazette believes, like most liberal Democrats, that the gas in the ground belongs “to the state” and not to individual, private property landowners. In their minds, a piece of the action (i.e. tax) should be levied on the gas coming out of the ground to transfer that wealth away from the people who own it–landowners–and give it to teachers’ unions instead. It’s always “for the children,” of course. (Utter bunkum.) Anywho, the Post-Gazette, while loving things like severance taxes, has begrudgingly faced the music on Wolf’s plan. They now see the fatal flaws and (consequentially) admit them. Their aim with the editorial is to have Wolf “fix” his broken plan, which isn’t likely to happen. Wolf doesn’t think his plan is broken and his attitude, along with the smug attitude of his lieutenants like Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley, is that the Wolf severance tax plan is superior and needs no fixing. Reality is gradually starting to dawn on the Dems–that they’re not going to get a severance tax this high–and so the blame game has begun. The worm has started to turn…
    Read More “The Worm Begins to Turn re Gov. Tom Wolf’s Severance Tax”

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    Kasich Predicts Severance Tax Deal Will Happen, Others Say No

    Once upon a time Ohio Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich (Republican) wanted to tax Utica Shale drillers 2.5%. But then he talked to some of his Democrat buddies and decided to hike it. After thinking it over, Kasich finally settled on 6.5%. When Kasich got resistance to his brilliant tax increase idea, he threatened the drilling industry by saying take my 6.5% or “someone else” may push for a ballot measure of 10% (see OH Gov Kasich the Bully: Accept My 6.5% Tax or Risk a 10%+ Tax). Kasich has been on the 6.5% bandwagon from some months now, and not giving in. One news account says he’s about to go down in defeat yet again, but another news account has him buoyant, like he’s about to get what he wants…
    Read More “Kasich Predicts Severance Tax Deal Will Happen, Others Say No”

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    PA Official Admits Wolf Severance Tax Highest in Nation @ 17.3%

    I admit itThe head of Pennsylvania’s so-called Independent Fiscal Office (a partisan organization) testified before a joint hearing of the state Senate’s energy and finance committees yesterday and said (fantastically) non-Pennsylvanians will “eventually” pick up most of the tab for a nosebleed high severance tax proposed by PA Gov. Tom Wolf (Democrat). Matthew Knittel, head of the Independent Fiscal Office, also testified under oath that Wolf’s severance tax will have an initial effective rate of 17.3% in 2016–instantly skyrocketing to become the nation’s highest severance tax…
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    PA Gov Wolf Tax Package (Incl Severance Tax) Voted Down 193-0

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed a slew of new taxes as part of his proposed budget. Yes, there’s a 15% (or according to his own government advisers, 17.3%) severance tax in the package of tax increases Wolf wants. But there are a number of other taxes the PA Democrat governor, who took office in January, wants as well. When you add it all up, its over $12 billion in new economy-crushing taxes. So the Republicans running the PA House held a vote yesterday on the entire package of Wolf’s tax proposals. In other words, do you really want this? Is this the way to go? The vote was taken, and every single House member, all 193 of them–Republicans and Democrats–voted against Wolf’s tax proposals. Wolf called the vote a “stunt” and said, “This is the kind of gamesmanship that we were not sent here to play.” Er, did we miss something? YOU wanted all of these new taxes Gov. Wolf. So when YOUR taxes were voted on–all together in one package–you didn’t want it after all? Did you have a change of heart? Why did you propose those taxes if you didn’t want them voted on? This is the kind of gamesmanship we’ve come to expect from the Democrats in the Keystone State. The kind of political “stunts” they play. When the Democrats’ enormous appetite for taxing and spending is exposed and brought out into the open, they run away…
    Read More “PA Gov Wolf Tax Package (Incl Severance Tax) Voted Down 193-0”

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    Industry-Backed Ad Turning the Tide Against PA Severance Tax

    media biasMust be that new advertisement airing in Pennsylvania warning folks against Gov. Tom Wolf’s Marcellus-killing 15% severance tax is having an effect. How can we tell? Because mainstream media outlets like the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg is manufacturing a false controversy about who’s behind the ads–quoting anti-drillers like Jan Jarrett from the non-transparent partisan group called the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center–to distract people from the effectiveness of the ad. Plus, the pro-Democrat Harrisburg Patriot-News doesn’t even bother manufacturing a false controversy–they just outright criticize and ridicule the ad, not even bothering with a veneer of objectivity…
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    Big European Oil Companies Want UN to Slap Carbon Tax on U.S.

    The Europeans are sometimes, well, stupid. How else can you explain six large oil companies–BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total–buying into the tax scheme called carbon credits? The six sent a letter (copy below) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) begging the UN to introduce carbon pricing systems and “create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems” that would “reduce uncertainty and encourage the most cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions widely.” This is madness. Create laws that supersede each country’s sovereignty and impose a worldwide tax on carbon–the stuff you breathe out with every breath–as some sort of solution for the imaginary problem of man-made global warming? If the UN does such a thing, it will spell the end of the companies sending the letter! What do you call a company trying to commit economic suicide? Do the investors of these six companies know the heads of those companies are trying to destroy the company and their investments along with it? No wonder Europe is in decline…
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    Democrats Admit Wolf’s PA Severance Tax Goes as High as 20%

    A diverse coalition of industry and business groups has come together, led by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, to oppose PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s disastrous idea of a severance tax on the Marcellus Shale industry. The coalition has just launched a very effective television commercial. How do we know it’s effective? The Democrat PR machine (i.e. PBS’s StateImpact Pennsylvania) writes about the commercial and shows a screen shot of the Youtube version of it–but they don’t embed the Youtube version so you can actually watch it . Don’t worry, we embed it below. PBS can’t have anyone actually watch the thing for goodness sake! That might actually sway a few people. Amazingly, we do get an admission from the Democrats at StateImpact that if the price of natgas remains low in PA, Wolf’s severance tax actually zooms up to 20%–not the 5% he claims it is. Looks like somebody at StateImpact didn’t follow instructions to let the governor’s office review the story before it was published. Oh oh…
    Read More “Democrats Admit Wolf’s PA Severance Tax Goes as High as 20%”

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    PA Gov. Wolf Throws Temper Tantrum at Groups Opposing Sev. Tax

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is a typical Democrat. When he doesn’t get his own way, he throws a temper tantrum and stomps his feet and behaves like a child. Yesterday he sent his chief of staff, Katie McGinty, off to the Pennsylvania Press Club to give “reporters” the narrative they should use to try and mass brainwash the PA population on why his 15% severance tax plan is such a great idea (see today’s companion story). Meanwhile, Wolf sent a temper tantrum letter off to the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry along with a 16 other PA business organizations to lambaste them for having the gall to disagree with his severance tax plan and point out its shortcomings…
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    Wolf Chief of Staff: Marcellus Industry Lying About Tax

    According to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff Katie McGinty, the Marcellus Shale industry is lying about its own economic health (or unhealth), and the only “responsible” thing to do is pass Wolf’s Marcellus-killing severance tax. That’s essentially what she said at a talk delivered to Democrat operatives–otherwise known as “reporters”–attending her speech at the Pennsylvania Press Club. “Reporter” Robert Swift was in attendance to take dictation/receive marching orders from McGinty and he “reports” this…
    Read More “Wolf Chief of Staff: Marcellus Industry Lying About Tax”

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    Breakdown of WV’s $188M Severance Tax & Where it Goes

    In April MDN shared the news that severance tax collections in West Virginia doubled in 2014 over 2013. We also told you that a paltry 7.5% of what’s collected actually stays in the counties where the drilling happens (see WV Severance Tax Doubles in 2014, 90% Disappears in Charleston). We have more of a breakdown for which counties raised what in severance tax in 2014 below. The interesting thing to MDN is this: Even though Charleston steals 90% of the money to redistribute as they see fit, Marcellus and Utica drilling in places like Wetzel County have lifted that county out of economic depression. Which goes to show that it’s not government showering select groups and geographies with money that creates wealth. It’s the private sector–the oil and gas industry–that is the engine of economic growth and wealth in this country…
    Read More “Breakdown of WV’s $188M Severance Tax & Where it Goes”

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    PA Town Supervisors Say “No Thanks” To Wolf Severance Tax Plan

    More and more people are waking up to the fact that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed severance tax is not only bad for the Marcellus industry–it’s bad for the state too. The latest group to officially oppose it is the influential Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS). The group’s president said yesterday that the fee from the severance tax intended to replace the current impact fee (under Act 13) that provides an important source of revenue for municipalities would not grow as drilling grows. PSATS has figured out the dirty little secret–Wolf intends to raid money that would have gone to townships in order to grease politicians hands in Harrisburg, allowing that money to disappear into the black hole of state spending…
    Read More “PA Town Supervisors Say “No Thanks” To Wolf Severance Tax Plan”

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    WV Severance Tax Doubles in 2014, 90% Disappears in Charleston

    money disappearingWow–who woulda thunk? Drillers in West Virginia paid double the amount of revenue in severance taxes in 2014 than they did in 2013–a total of $188 million. Those numbers are approaching the total haul for the tax/impact fee in Pennsylvania (a little over $200 million each year). But there’s a big difference between the revenue raised in WV and PA. In PA, 60% of the revenue raised stays local with the towns and counties where drilling occurs, and 40% goes to the state and other geographies. We call the 40% “walking around money” (i.e. extortion) that politicians had to agree to in order to get any kind of deal done that remotely approaches common sense. In WV however, an eye-popping 90% of the severance revenue raised goes to the state–to disappear through politicians’ fingers–while a meager 7.5% stays in the counties that see drilling…
    Read More “WV Severance Tax Doubles in 2014, 90% Disappears in Charleston”

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    Celebrate! Ohio Severance Tax Increase Dead in 2015

    It's Dead JimVery good news for the Ohio Utica Shale industry: RINO Gov. John Kasich’s plan to raise the severance tax is dead–at least for this year. Yesterday Ohio legislators stripped out a proposed tax hike from the state’s budget bill. We’re still not out of the woods yet as far as a tax increase down the road. Legislators decided to set up a “study committee” made up of both House and Senate members to consider a severance tax increase in the future. This is the third year in a row Kasich has tried and failed to raise the severance tax. Perhaps sensing yet another defeat on the tax issue, last month Kasich made a not-so-subtle threat that if the drilling industry doesn’t accept his 6.5% severance tax now, a ballot initiative may just pop up out of thin air to enact a higher severance tax–and that imitative would probably be for 10% or more (see OH Gov Kasich the Bully: Accept My 6.5% Tax or Risk a 10%+ Tax). In other words, you take my “minor” shakedown or I’ll be sure you get screwed over big-time. Will Kasich carry out his threat?…
    Read More “Celebrate! Ohio Severance Tax Increase Dead in 2015”

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    Wolf Chief of Staff McGinty Lies About PA Severance Tax/Impact Fee

    retreadKatie McGinty is one of the Ed Rendell retreads employed by current PA Gov. Tom Wolf. She’s one of two former DEP Secretaries (under Rendell) working for Wolf. In fact, she is Tom Wolf’s chief of staff–arguably the second-most powerful person in Harrisburg after the governor himself. We’ve previously chronicled her background and how she might influence Wolf on Marcellus drilling matters (see How Will Wolf Appointment of McGinty Affect Marcellus Drilling?). In commenting on Wolf’s proposed 15% (effective rate) severance tax with the editorial board of a Washington County newspaper, McGinty also shows her skill at bald-faced lying…
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