Taxation

  • | | | | |

    2 Spineless PA RINOs Join Call for High Marcellus Severance Tax

    Several mainstream media outlets are trumpeting that “Republicans join the call for tax on Marcellus drillers.” Of course you have to read the fine print of the story to learn the so-called Republicans, which are really Republicans-In-Name-Only (RINOs), are really just two Republicans from the Philadelphia area where there is no drilling. They both want to stick their fingers into the pockets of landowners and drillers so they have funny money to throw around and buy votes with. Yes, we’re talking to you Gene DiGirolamo (Bucks County) and Tom Murt (Montgomery/Philadelphia counties). Shame on both of you.

    The real story is this: Two spineless RINO sellouts from the Philly area “join the call” for obscene taxes on the drilling industry. There is no mass movement among Republicans in Pennsylvania to kill off the drilling industry with high severance taxes being advocated by just about every Democrat legislator and Democrat candidate in the state. We sure hope the people of PA have wised up to the Dem drivel about taxing one industry (shale drilling) to give the Dems (and RINOs) boatloads of money to squander on pet projects–the chief pet project being to put money into the pockets of people who will vote for them…
    Read More “2 Spineless PA RINOs Join Call for High Marcellus Severance Tax”

  • | | |

    2013 PA Impact Fee Sets Record: $224.5M, Grand Total Now $630M

    On Friday, PA Gov. Tom Corbett announced the Act 13 impact fee for 2013 will deliver the biggest haul yet–$224.5 million, which is up 11% from the monies collected under the impact fee for 2012. The official tallies are not yet released by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged with collecting the fees. However, the bills have gone out and drillers have until April 15 to pay the tax man.

    There may be a few quibbles about how the numbers were calculated, but overall, the PUC knows about how much it will receive and so Gov. Corbett, feeling pressured by the tax-and-spend Democrat candidates running for his job (cough *Tom Wolf* cough), wanted to release the good news now…
    Read More “2013 PA Impact Fee Sets Record: $224.5M, Grand Total Now $630M”

  • | | | | |

    York County Park Getting $150K Upgrade Courtesy Marcellus $

    Even though there is no Marcellus Shale drilling in York County, PA, residents of the county will get $150,000 of improvements to a county park courtesy of Marcellus Shale drilling. MDN sees at least two or three of these kinds of stories–every week. We ignore most of them, but every now and again we bring you one of them to remind you of what the state is about to lose thanks to the “selfish seven” townships that sued the state to gut the Act 13 Marcellus drilling law–a law that provides for an impact fee that raises over $200 million per year that is distributed throughout the state–some of it in places like York County.

    Here’s the story of the $150,000 upgrade coming to a York County park courtesy the drillers and landowners out of whose pockets the money comes…
    Read More “York County Park Getting $150K Upgrade Courtesy Marcellus $”

  • | | | | | |

    Dangerous Economic Road Ahead for PA if Shale Economy is Topedoed

    In a letter to the editor published (amazingly) in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Consumer Energy Alliance Mid-Atlantic executive director Mike Butler points out, in just a few paragraphs, the grave danger now hovering over Pennsylvania because of the PA Supreme Court’s poor decision to side with seven selfish towns to overturn important and large portions of the Act 13 law, and in danger from PA Democrats who want to stop all future Marcellus drilling in the state with an ongoing moratorium.

    Pennsylvania is at a crossroads and if her citizens choose poorly in the next election, they risk plunging the state into an economic disaster, as eloquently pointed out by Mr. Butler:
    Read More “Dangerous Economic Road Ahead for PA if Shale Economy is Topedoed”

  • | | | |

    PA Partisan Study Finds PA Needs to Soak Drillers with New Taxes

    The partisan Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) last week released a so-called study on oil and gas taxes and concluded (surprise!) PA doesn’t pay enough in taxes (see PA Shale Industry Demonized for “Lack” of Severance Tax). The group compared apples with oranges and did it’s “best” to try and make a “fair” comparison and of course concluded PA drillers need to be drilled themselves–you know, to spread the wealth around in good socialist fashion. A full copy of the “study” is embedded below.

    It seems the IFO and PA Democrats are a bit thin-skinned when sources like MDN poke holes in their precious studies and dare to call them what they are: partisan hucksterism. And so news outlets like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette rush in to try and prop them up with “look at how fair and balanced this study really is” kinds of articles, like this one:
    Read More “PA Partisan Study Finds PA Needs to Soak Drillers with New Taxes”

  • | | |

    PA Dem Floats 5% Marcellus Severance Tax “For the Children”

    Pennsylvania Democrats continue their push for economic suicide. Borrowing from their 50 year-old playbook, the latest push is to impose a 5% severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state–which would effectively kill all drilling–and use the money (please don’t laugh)…”for the children.” Yes folks, PA’s schools suck big-time, and the only thing that can save them now is to extract some money out of the pockets of those nasty, filthy (and rich) drillers so teachers can educate young crumb crunchers to the superiority of socialism and taking money from one group (those who work) to redistribute to another (those who don’t work). What better way than to sink a pipeline right into the piles of money that come from drilling? What dunces.

    State Sen. Vincent Hughes, dunderhead Democrat from the Philadelphia area, said he will introduce legislation to impose a 5% Marcellus Shale severance tax that will be DOA, so he and other Dems can use it as a politically divisive campaign issue come November. Such caring (and intelligent) folks those PA Democrats. Just a teeny, tiny problem Vinny–your party has voted to stop all Marcellus drilling (see PA Democrat Party Votes to End Marcellus Shale Drilling Statewide). How will you tax something that doesn’t happen anymore? Oops…
    Read More “PA Dem Floats 5% Marcellus Severance Tax “For the Children””

  • | | | |

    Ohio Republicans About to Go Goose Hunting with Severance Tax?

    goose with golden eggIt seems MDN is not alone in encouraging the weak-kneed Republican politicians in Ohio to not screw up the economic miracle happening in their state by imposing an overzealous severance tax on Utica Shale drilling.

    The editorial writers at the Wheeling News-Register think Gov. John Kasich and the House Republicans should tread lightly and make double-dog sure whatever new taxes they vote for, they don’t kill the goose laying the golden eggs in Ohio…
    Read More “Ohio Republicans About to Go Goose Hunting with Severance Tax?”

  • | | | | | | |

    Best Way to Kill Drilling in PA/OH/WV: “Uniform” Severance Tax

    A few weeks ago MDN said the plan floated by lefties and libs to create a so-called uniform severance tax across PA, OH and WV is one of the dumbest things we’ve heard in a long time (see Stupid Idea of the Year: Create Uniform Severance Tax in PA-OH-WV). The plan as proposed means all three states hold hands and jump off the economic cliff together. Apparently it’s more fun to die together (economically) than alone.

    MDN is not the only voice to point out the lunacy of this plan. The head of the PA Chamber of Business and Industry also says the proposed mega-tax is nuts. As Gene Barr highlights in the following letter to the editor, it’s apparent the people proposing such a plan–including the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center–are ignorant of how taxes in PA and other places actually work. You would think an organization with a name that includes the word “budget” would employ at least one economist or accountant. Apparently they don’t. They are economic illiterates who don’t realize what they are proposing is anything but fair–especially to Pennsylvanians…
    Read More “Best Way to Kill Drilling in PA/OH/WV: “Uniform” Severance Tax”

  • | | | | |

    WV Roads in Need of Repair – Fracking to Blame?

    There are a number of roadways in Marshall County and other WV counties with active Marcellus and Utica drilling in need of repair. There is no doubt frequent truck traffic related to the drilling industry is partially at fault. However, truck traffic coupled with a brutally cold winter, seems to have made it worse. Not that roads in many WV communities were pristine to begin with! Just ask any driller operating in WV–the roads in WV suck. There’s just no nice way of saying it. They were not good before drilling, so drilling is not totally to blame.

    Still, drilling truck traffic has made it worse. So the industry should pay for repairs, right? Well…they already do. It’s called a 5% severance tax paid by drillers on everything they produce. The drillers are certainly paying it. If the state is not sharing that money with local counties for much-needed road repairs–that’s not the drillers’ fault…
    Read More “WV Roads in Need of Repair – Fracking to Blame?”

  • | | |

    PA Shale Industry Demonized for “Lack” of Severance Tax

    The Democrats in Pennsylvania are bound and determined to impose a nosebleed severance tax on shale drilling in the state. Their latest effort comes from the partisan so-called Independent Fiscal Office, a branch of the state legislature, that just released an apples to oranges comparison of PA with other states claiming PA doesn’t pay as much in taxes as those other states. Of course what the very flawed analysis by the IFO doesn’t show are all of the other taxes and fees in PA not levied in those other states that more than make up for the “lack” of a severance tax.

    PA Dems seem to have the philosophy that 100% of the money earned by other people (drillers in this case) belongs to the state (i.e. them) for redistribution purposes, and how dare the industry oppose them from extracting 5%, or preferably 10%, right off the top (see PA State Treasurer Rob McCord Unveils Gas Death Plan). Here’s the latest salvo in the PA Dem war to regain the governor’s chair this November by demonizing the shale industry as not paying their “fair share”…
    Read More “PA Shale Industry Demonized for “Lack” of Severance Tax”

  • | | | |

    Back to the Future (Fund) – WV Gov. Tomblin Signs New Law

    Last year a bunch of West Virginia lawmakers went on a quick vacation to North Dakota (of all places), at a cost of $25,000 to WV taxpayers, to try and convince those lawmakers to look at and adopt a “future fund” similar to ND’s “legacy fund” (see 18 WV Lawmakers Flying to ND for a $20K Overnighter on Drill Tax). The Future Fund bill, which would set aside 3% of revenue raised from WV’s oil and gas severance tax in a rainy day fund, came up for a vote a few weeks ago. It passed, but not the way hoped for (see Fate of 3 WV Laws that Impact Marcellus/Utica Drilling). The final bill was altered so that only if certain economic conditions are met would the 3% be set aside.

    However, that makes no difference when it comes to photo ops. Yesterday WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed the bill into law and the headlines today all ready that WV now has a Future Fund and the state’s politicians are almost breaking their arms patting themselves on the back–even though it’s doubtful that money will be set aside for years to come…
    Read More “Back to the Future (Fund) – WV Gov. Tomblin Signs New Law”

  • | | | | | |

    PA State Treasurer Rob McCord Unveils Gas Death Plan

    Poor old “Pass a Joint for John” Hanger dropped out of the race to be the Democrat nominee for governor in PA. Who will be next? Apparently not State Treasurer Rob McCord. Get this, he’s just released an utterly brilliant natural gas plan–tax the whole darned thing 10%…on everything produced. According to McCord, that will raise $1.63 billion for the state in just the first year.

    Of course the plan is, in reality, utterly brain dead and moronic. If such a plan were ever to see the light of day it would effectively kill all shale drilling in the state. Done. Finished. Over. And then instead of the $200 million+ PA now extracts in a reasonable impact fee–they would get nothing. How on earth do these people keep getting elected to office? Here’s more of the moronic McCord gas death plan:
    Read More “PA State Treasurer Rob McCord Unveils Gas Death Plan”

  • | | | |

    Update on Project Using Marcellus $ to Treat PA Acid Mine Water

    Late last year MDN brought you the story of how $1 million of Marcellus Shale Act 13 impact fee money (about to dry up thanks to seven PA litigious townships) was awarded as a grant to help fund a project that will clean up one of PA’s biggest ongoing environmental disasters and the single largest source of pollution for the Chesapeake Bay–acid mine drainage from the Old Forge borehole near Scranton, PA (see Specifics on Marcellus $ Helping to Clean Chesapeake Bay Pollution). Susquehanna Mining Solutions plans to build a plant to strip out the minerals from the water that comes from long-abandoned coal mines.

    A quick update on the project:
    Read More “Update on Project Using Marcellus $ to Treat PA Acid Mine Water”

  • | | | |

    OH Gov. Kasich’s One-Track ‘Tax the Utica’ Mindset

    You have to hand it to Ohio’s RINO Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich–he has a single-track mind when it comes to taxing Utica Shale drilling. He wants a piece o’ that drillin’ pie so he can transfer the money from those who produce (the drillers and the landowners), to those who don’t (voters). Kasich is hell-bent on assessing a 2.75% tax on all Utica Shale drilling. The Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), which did support a smaller increase, is pushing back against Kasich’s latest demand saying it’s “unacceptable to the association.” Good for them–someone needs to be the voice of reason on this issue.

    Here’s more on Kasich’s desire to take the easy way out–to tax more–instead of manning up and doing the right thing–cutting more:
    Read More “OH Gov. Kasich’s One-Track ‘Tax the Utica’ Mindset”

  • | | | | | | | |

    Stupid Idea of the Year: Create Uniform Severance Tax in PA-OH-WV

    Socialists and hardened anti-drillers are trying a new approach. Adopt non-partisan sounding names, like the “Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center,” “Policy Matters Ohio,” and “West Virginia Center on Budget and Public Policy,” and use those names to try and pass a high severance tax across all three states–effectively killing drilling. Those groups are some of the most partisan in existence. If Socialist politicians like OH State Rep. Robert Hagan (Democrat anti-driller) of Youngstown, OH can’t stop drilling, they want to profit from it by “spreading the wealth around” in classic socialist fashion. Tax drilling at high rates, then redistribute the money to people who will continuously vote said politicians back into office over and over. That’s how it works. Enslave people on public welfare handouts and buy their votes. It’s sick, anti-American, and corrupt.

    Various politicians like Hagan, flying under the banner of the groups named above, are now preening about advocating a “common sense” and “uniform” severance tax of 5% (minimum) across PA, OH and WV. Such a stupid idea would immediately tank the economic miracle happening in PA. You WANT states competing against each other for shale drilling–lowering and even eliminating taxes. Everyone wins when states compete–it keeps natural gas prices low for consumers, benefits landowners in that state, generates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in local and state tax revenues. A high severance tax is not needed. So when you read about this so-called “fair” proposal, you know what it really is: a naked political power grab meant to empower corrupt politicians to retain their hold on power…
    Read More “Stupid Idea of the Year: Create Uniform Severance Tax in PA-OH-WV”

  • | | | | | |

    Fate of 3 WV Laws that Impact Marcellus/Utica Drilling

    Each year the West Virginia legislature meets for 60 days to consider new legislation. Some bills make it to a floor vote, most do not. There are three bills of major concern to Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers before WV legislators during this session, which just wrapped up last week: chemical tank regulation; WV Future Fund; and forced pooling. One of the three passed and will almost certainly be signed into law by WV Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin. Another passed with major modifications, rendering it unrecognizable from the original. The third, to our knowledge, never made it to the floor for a vote and died in committee.

    Which was which?…
    Read More “Fate of 3 WV Laws that Impact Marcellus/Utica Drilling”