Coalition Sends Letter to Lawmakers: Make Sure Natural Gas Industry Pays Its Fair Share

By THE PENNSYLVANIA BUDGET AND POLICY CENTER

HARRISBURG, PA (September 20, 2010) – More than 125 organizations and concerned Pennsylvanians have signed on to a letter urging state lawmakers to keep the promise they made this summer and enact a responsible severance tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale.

The Better Choices for Pennsylvania Coalition sponsored the letter, which was signed by representatives of education, health and human service organizations, as well as several individual Pennsylvanians.

The letter emphasizes that a severance tax is essential not only to protecting the environment and compensating local communities impacted by drilling activity, but also “to prevent additional cuts to early childhood education, libraries, state parks, services for seniors, and care for people with disabilities. More cuts will undermine these and other services vital to our state’s economy, costing jobs and slowing the economic recovery.

“We urge you to enact a tax that limits loopholes, special exemptions or other gimmicks that reduce tax revenue without appreciably affecting production,” the letter states. “The industry must pay its fair share.”
Read the full text of the letter here: http://betterchoicesforpa.com/severancetaxsignonletter.aspx.

Better Choices for Pennsylvania is a coalition of Pennsylvanians working for a balanced approach that includes new revenue to solve our state’s budget crisis. Rather than relying solely on spending cuts, a balanced approach will allow Pennsylvania to help working families through hard times, preserve our long-term financial stability and put the state in a good position when the economy recovers. To learn more, go to www.betterchoicesforpa.com.

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