This page was last updated on July 12, 2015.
Local legislators betray property owners; Gerald D. Moran; Beaver County Times; July 9, 2015.
Previous Moran letters were “McClelland is right on health care,” “Where is the difference?,” and “Do more for poor than pray for them.”
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Gov. Tom Wolfe [sic] put forth a reasonable budget proposal with the natural gas severance tax and other revenue increases to reduce local property taxes, improve school funding and shore up previous budget shortfalls.”
[RWC] I took a quick look at Mr. Wolf’s “reasonable budget proposal” and it’s more tax-and-spend BS. There may be some funny business going on in the budget documents as well. In a couple of places there’s a “Proposed Revenue Changes” (PRC) line item. In one place the PRC is $4,662 million and in the other it’s $4,662,700 thousand. First, I found no detail describing from where the $4.7 billion revenue increase comes. Second, $4,662,700 thousand rounds to $4,663 million, not $4,662 million.
According to the Tax Foundation, PA’s business tax climate already ranks 34th for 2015, three positions worse than 2014 and 13 positions worse than 2012.
Mr. Moran failed to mention PA has an impact fee in lieu of a severance tax. According to the Post-Gazette, “Pennsylvania communities to share $223 million in drilling impact fees” from 2014.
You may recall even the BCT finally conceded taxing Marcellus gas is “a tax that is paid by consumers” and acknowledged “Raising taxes could slow the economy.” No mention of that here, though.
“I feel our local state representatives and state senator are betraying property owners, our school children, families and seniors by not working towards problem-solving for their local constituents.”
[RWC] Aren’t gambling taxes already reducing our school property taxes? As for “problem-solving,” Mr. Moran appears to believe increasing spending and taxation solves problems.
“I would like to know what proposals they are implementing for reducing our property taxes and improving school funding.”
[RWC] In summary, Mr. Moran wants someone else to pay more so he can pay less and spend more.
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