State legislators suffering from tax pain

Nothing the House did really addresses the state’s basic need for a solid, recurring source of income.

Now that we have completed our annual day of thanks, we can go back to our normal routine, in other words the things we are not thankful for.

Here in Pennsylvania, that usually starts at the top, in this case the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

In case you did not notice, that funding plan our elected representatives cobbled together a few weeks back did not exactly have the financial experts who review Pennsylvania’s bleak fiscal condition doing cartwheels.

The House plans a huge boost in legalizing gambling and a big boost in borrowing to cover the $2 billion – and growing – state deficit included in that $32 billion spending plan. The House will dip into the fund set aside for the money derived from that huge settlement with tobacco companies.

But nothing the House did really addresses the state’s basic need for a solid, recurring source of income.

Lots of people point out the fact that Pennsylvania is the only large, gas-producing state in the nation that does not feature such a tax. Instead, natural gas drillers pay an “impact fee,” put in place back when Gov. Tom Corbett was running for re-election on a “no new taxes pledge,” thus the “fee.”

Only one problem. Most experts believe Pennsylvania is squandering an opportunity for a major new revenue source by failing to enact such a tax.

That would include Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who has been pushing such a measure since he took office.

And this year he actually had allies in the state Senate, including Delaware County Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26, of Springfield. McGarrigle was among a group of southeastern Pennsylvania senators who pushed a severance tax through the state Senate. No, it was not as steep a levy as Wolf had pushed for, but it would have been a solid revenue stream.

But House leadership turned up its nose at the new tax. Hey, at least these guys are consistent. They equate anything resembling a tax hike to anathema. Then again, with every member of the state House up for re-election in November 2018, it’s easy to see why new taxes are not all that popular.

But even within the House, there was support for a natural gas tax from the southeastern Pennsylvania reps, including Republicans. Some actually tried to force a measure out of committee and onto the floor for a vote by the full House a month ago, only to see their moves blocked by their own leadership.

Last week it was more of the same.

The Republican-controlled House adjourned for the Thanksgiving holiday without taking up the tax on Marcellus Shale.

Two days of debate failed to move the issue to a vote.

Any possible action on the measure now is off until at least Dec. 4. The process is being bogged down by literally hundreds of amendments that have been tacked onto the plan.

As with everything that happens in Harrisburg, expect the shadow of politics to quickly cover this debate.

House members are not the only ones who will be running for re-election next November.

Wolf and the governor’s mansion also will be on the ballot. Two big-name Republicans are already in the running to challenge him – York County Sen. Scott Wagner and House Speaker Mike Turzai, RAllegheny. Turzai is dead set against any new tax; Wagner already has been caught on camera urging a group to block any new tax on Marcellus Shale as a way to block Wolf’s re-election.

Neither is likely all that enthused about giving Wolf a key victory on something he ran on four years ago when he beat the incumbent Corbett.

Pennsylvania currently sits as the No. 2 gas-producing state in the nation, trailing only Texas.

The Republican plan – both in the Senate and House – already has been watered down. It will not raise as much revenue as Wolf has consistently pushed for.

Most studies indicate broad public support for such a measure.

But then the public does not have to run for office every two years. The Pa. House does. Forget indigestion. In Pennsylvania, our elected leaders have been suffering from severe gas pains.

Don’t expect that to get any better when they take up the plan again next week.