Editorial “Pa. Legislature needs to work quickly to fund budget plan” states:
“Democrats are talking about the possibility of a gross receipts tax on natural gas. Such a tax would affect about 3 million natural gas customers — homeowners and businesses.
“But many legislators, on both sides, recognize that any tax increase will be swallowed about as easily as a ground glass burger by voters in an election year. You can see the campaign ads already. They practically write themselves.”
The editors miss the significance of an extraction versus a consumption tax. All the other states that are major producers tax extraction of shale gas. The gas goes into a national distribution system.
This isn’t like Tom Corbett’s attempt to hide his necessary added tax on gasoline sold at Pennsylvania service stations by taxing at the distributors’ level. (It had the exact same effect at the gas pump.)
The only conceivable reason for not enacting a shale gas extraction tax is the political contributions received by the Republican legislators and their party. And there are probably some Democrats benefitting also.
