Gov. Wolf’s duplicative tax is a bad deal for Pennsylvanians

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 30, 2018 – Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania Executive Director Stephanie Catarino Wissman issued the following response today to Governor Wolf’s latest attempt to increase taxes on Pennsylvania’s natural gas industry.  

“Governor Wolf’s yearly campaign to double-up on the existing impact tax is now a quarterly occurrence,” said API-PA Executive Director Stephanie Catarino Wissman. “This tired proposal for a duplicative tax misses the facts: the simple economic concept that if you tax something you’ll get less of that something. In this case that’s natural gas production, a key driver of the state economy in recent years.

“Pennsylvanians are realizing the benefits of an energy renaissance. This year, the natural gas industry added an estimated $219 million in paid impact taxes to the commonwealth, up more than $46 million over the amount collected last year. Impact tax dollars are helping to fix our roads, fund critical infrastructure projects, and invest in our communities. And if that’s not enough, the very industry the Governor wants to tax again is in large part responsible, as we’ve seen in the last decade, for helping school districts in the commonwealth save tens of millions of dollars on energy every year – unrelated to the impact tax contributions that we’ve already made.

“Governor Wolf’s proposal would move the commonwealth backwards. Unnecessarily jeopardizing investment in all 67 counties and risking good family-sustaining jobs while the commonwealth benefits less and less is the wrong direction. Our industry wants Pennsylvania to be as competitive as possible; the Governor’s proposal is a bad deal for Pennsylvanians.”

API-PA is a division of API, which represents all segments of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms. They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing grassroots movement of more than 40 million Americans.