Tax on Gas Driller Boils in Harrisburg:2/3 of state's voters support tax.

[Divernan]

This is a long, detailed article and worth your time to read. The only logical conclusion is that there is NO logical reason for Corbett to refuse to go along with this. Even the Marcellus drilling industry has agreed to it. The only thing I can think of is that Corbett is one of these massively insecure men (usually compensating for a masculine "shortcoming", anatomically speaking if you catch my meaning) who can never admit they were wrong, or have to back down. Do the Commonwealth a favor, Governor, and work out your shortcomings/inadequacies as a male by smoking cigars, driving a you-know-what-shaped red sports car, or getting a prescription for Viagra.

"As new taxes go, a levy on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania would seem like a pretty easy political sell.

Every other major natural-gas producing state has some sort of tax, and some of the biggest drillers have said they won't oppose one here, so long as it's reasonable.

"The Marcellus industry has been clear and outspoken on this for a year or so," said Ray Walker, vice president of Texas-based Range Resources and chairman of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group. "We are willing to discuss a severance tax."

"The governor absolutely does not subscribe to the notion that because everybody else collects a severance tax, we should as well," Patrick Henderson, Mr. Corbett's energy executive, said last week in an interview.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11087/1135289-503.stm#ixzz1HtS8fqog

[PA Democrat]

1. When you have Tom Ridge, the industry's chief lobbyist, supporting a tax

you have to wonder about Corbett's sanity. Even registered Republicans overwhelmingly support a tax.

The Penn State "study" on taxing natural gas is a perfect illustration of the corrupting influence of corporate money in higher education. I guess we can expect more of these corporate-agenda-supportive studies as the state's universities scramble to survive Corbett's budget cuts.