PITTSBURGH TIMES-TRIBUNE Editorial: …Gov. Tom Corbett and a host of legislators have argued that the total taxation package in each state is different, making it meaningless that Pennsylvania is the only major gas-drilling state without a severance tax on production.
The state Independent Fiscal Office, however, has found that circumstance to be meaningful indeed. It conducted what it called an “apples to apples” comparison of state tax burdens on the industry in 11 major producing states and found that Pennsylvania came in … 11th…
The report found that a Pennsylvania well that began producing in 2014 will be taxed at an effective maximum tax rate of 1.6 percent. A similar well in West Virginia will be taxed at over 7 percent, and a Texas well at 4.6 percent… (more)
EDITOR: The governor is not about to bite the hands that feed his campaigns.
