Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale recently urged state lawmakers to enact a natural gas severance tax to bring in desperately needed revenue to address an enormous state deficit and looming budget crisis.
DePasquale’s call for action was supported by state and local leaders and representatives from several public employee unions at a rally held in front of the York County Administrative Center in York.
“We need to invest in Pennsylvanians, not gas drillers and corporate profits,” DePasquale said.
“We are facing a $3 billion state deficit. We are falling horrifically short of tax revenue projections. We are seeing vital programs on the chopping block because there isn’t enough money. It’s time we come up with some real solutions to our budget crisis. A tax on natural gas drillers is a real solution,” DePasquale said.
Since 2014, the natural gas industry took billions of dollars from the ground in Pennsylvania. A natural gas severance tax could raise an estimated $500 million a year.
“$500 million is real money. It goes an enormous way to helping our children, our elderly, our schools and our communities,” DePasquale said. “I have long been on record dating back to my days in the legislature for a fair tax on Marcellus shale. We have debated the need for this tax for nearly a decade. We cannot afford to let another year go by.”
