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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State Rep. Bill DeWeese |
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DeWeese
promotes restoring natural gas taxation
HARRISBURG, Feb. 3 – State Rep. Bill DeWeese told the House Finance Committee on
Tuesday that his legislation to permit counties, school districts and
municipalities to assess natural gas for the purposes of real estate taxation
would restore an ability lost in a 2002 state Supreme Court decision.
DeWeese said H.B. 10, which was the topic of the hearing, would put natural gas
in the same category as other underground resources already assessed for tax
purposes, including coal, limestone and sand.
With the explosive growth already
under way for extracting gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale, DeWeese said his
bill brings basic fairness to the equation while providing local entities a
modest revenue boost.
"This is a phenomenal
opportunity for us, relative to the Marcellus Shale," DeWeese said.
"It’s an opportunity to revivify a revenue stream for rural communities,
school districts and counties."
Others testifying in support of H.B.
10 included Doug Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners
Association of Pennsylvania; Elam Herr, assistant executive director of the
Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors; and Ed Troxell,
director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania State Association of
Boroughs.
Because of its current assessment
exemption, Hill said the oil and gas industry is not paying its fair share,
creating a tax burden borne by everyone else, including homeowners. Hill said
the gas industry creates additional costs for local governments, from bridge
and road repairs to added strains on social services created by an influx of
out-of-state workers, so it should pay more.
Herr said that taking any entity out
of the tax mix means someone else picks up the cost, so, "We’re looking at
equity and restoring some fairness to the property tax system" by
supporting the bill. Troxell said the added revenue created by the legislation
would fulfill his association members’ desire to protect their communities and
residents.
DeWeese,
D-Greene/Fayette/Washington, said his bill differs from proposals to
impose a severance tax on natural gas, a distinction also made by Finance
Committee Chairman Rep. David Levdansky, D-Allegheny/Washington.
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