A bi-partisan group of four members of the Pennsylvania House is now seeking co-sponsors for a bill to enact a reasonable and fair drilling tax that provides benefits to all citizens of the Commonwealth.
The legislators are Representatives Gene DiGirolamo, R-Bucks; Tom Murt, R-Montgomery; Pam DeLissio, D-Montgomery; and Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny. Yesterday, I was pleased to participate in a press event with these House members in support of the bill, along with representatives from education, human services, labor and other advocacy organizations.
The bill would impose a 4.9 percent tax on the value of the gas produced from Marcellus shale and other unconventional gas wells. Pennsylvania is the only major gas producing state that does not impose a drilling tax.
The 4.9 percent rate is lower than the rate in neighboring West Virginia, where the gas industry is thriving. It is important to consider that at least 40 percent of the end price of natural gas is from the cost of transportation, and Pennsylvania is blessed by its proximity to large northeastern markets.
Pennsylvania's current Act 13 impact fee would be replaced by the higher tax. Approximately 40 percent of the proceeds of the tax would be used to ensure that all programs funded by the impact fee would receive equal or greater funding from the drilling tax. The tax would then raise substantial revenues above the current impact fee.
The additional revenue would fund basic education, human services, economic and environmental programs. PennFuture is very pleased with the environmental funding in the proposed bill. The bill includes substantial investments in Growing Greener, state parks and state forests, and solar energy. I plan to discuss these specific investments in greater detail in a future blog post.
A statewide Mercyhurst University Center for Applied Politics poll released in October found that Pennsylvanians support a drilling tax by a whopping 70 percent to 17 percent margin. Very few questions poll better than four to one with a statewide audience.
It is unlikely that this bill will move in 2014 given the sway that the gas industry has over the Corbett administration and key legislators. But Representatives DiGirolamo, Murt, DeLissio and Readshaw, and others who support their proposal, are keeping a very important conversation going. I have little doubt that one day the political leaders of the Commonwealth will catch up to the citizens on this issue.
Please help by asking your state representative to co-sponsor this important bill.
Steve Stroman is state policy director for PennFuture, based in Harrisburg.
