This page was last updated on March 14, 2011.
Drillers should be paying taxes; Martha Davies; Beaver County Times; March 13, 2011.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Example: Your two children contaminated your water supply.
“Child A is punished and has to give up his allowance plus any extra money he makes to clean up the mess. Child B gets no punishment at all.
“Fair? The same conditions exist in Pennsylvania, where Gov. Tom Corbett chooses who will pay and who will not pay for polluting our rivers and streams with toxic waste. Who will be responsible for the cleanup after shale drilling has contaminated them?
“Come to Pennsylvania, all shale drillers. You can do what you want, and the taxpayers will clean up your mess.”
[RWC] I don’t know where Ms. Davies gets her information. Along with at least two previous authors (here and here), Ms. Davies appears to be listening to unreliable sources.
As I’ve written previously, companies harvesting our natural resources must do so in a responsible manner and must have the financial and technological wherewithal to handle worst-case scenarios. It is government’s responsibility to enforce these rules and to make sure everyone involved [businesses and government (local, state, federal)] is prepared (via drills, for example) to execute disaster plans.
“I wonder how much money our elected officials will cut from their salaries for the cleanup. Oh, how dumb of me. They will just raise my taxes. I would welcome the gas drilling, the jobs and revenue they bring to our state, but they should not be tax-exempt.”
[RWC] The gas drilling/production companies are not “tax-exempt.” They pay the same taxes as all other businesses. The tax to which I suspect Ms. Davies refers is a severance tax.
“By the way, governor, no tax hike? I think if his budget passes, everyone will have a huge tax hike. But all of those in Harrisburg don’t have to worry because they never have to make concessions.”
[RWC] Again, I don’t know where Ms. Davies gets her info. Mr. Corbett’s budget includes no tax rate increases or new taxes. No friend of Mr. Corbett, even the Times ran a story entitled “Corbett budget totals $27.3 billion, no new taxes.” Therefore, “if his budget passes” as it now exists, no one “will have a huge tax hike.” Of course, it’s possible Ms. Davies will blame Mr. Corbett for local governments that choose not to cut spending.
© 2004-2011 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.