SCRANTON TIMES-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: …Even though fair taxation never had driven away drillers from every other state that produces natural gas or oil, Gov. Tom Corbett and industry-friendly lawmakers have contended that such a tax in Pennsylvania would drive away the industry. The industry, they claimed, was in its infancy and could not sustain taxation atop substantial start up costs.
That notion always was dubious. Some of the world’s wealthiest corporations didn’t need public subsidies to cover their startup costs. The gas they are after isn’t portable; they have to drill for it where it exists – under Pennsylvania. New York’s long-standing drilling moratorium created a premium for Pennsylvania’s gas. Every other gas-drilling state already had a “severance” tax equal to or greater than that proposed in Pennsylvania. And, unlike in most other gas-drilling states, Pennsylvania precludes the value of gas leases from being included in local property tax assessments.
By kowtowing to the industry, Mr. Corbett and the Legislature have forfeited hundreds of millions of dollars in legitimate revenue…(more)
