[Milton Miteybad]

Three days after the newly elected Senate majority leader opened the door to negotiations on a natural gas drilling tax...

So is it really a "drilling tax"? Like...assessed on a per foot basis, perhaps? Or is it really just a common, everyday severance tax on production at the wellhead, which many states already have?

And is the author of the article really a drooling simpleton for referring to a severance tax as a "natural gas drilling tax?"

[thackney]

Reading past the headline:

The prospect of a severance tax on gas production in the lucrative Marcellus Shale - an issue dormant since Gov. Ed Rendell left office in 2011 - reemerged this year when gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf campaigned on a platform to use the tax to pump as much as $1 billion into public schools.

[thackney]

Reading past the headline intro:

Sorry.

Deeper in the article, past the excerpt I was allowed:

With an anticipated $2.2 billion deficit looming next year, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre) on Saturday said he was willing to discuss a severance tax if Wolf would negotiate on cutting costs in the state pension system.

[Pietro]

..which many states already have? Yes, its an extraction tax, which many states already have.

But what most states don't have is the existing burdensome taxes PA has;corp tax, income tax, sales tax, usage fees out the @ss, at some of the highest rates in the country.

PA is ranked 46th in business climate, w/ this tax we can make it all the way to 50th.