Mar. 02, 2016
HARRISBURG – Rep. Kate Harper’s (R-Montgomery) proposal to tax natural gas drilling and direct the revenue toward reducing the state’s pension debt is the subject of the March edition of her Legislative Report program.
The 30-minute show features excerpts of an informational meeting conducted by the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee to examine proposals such as Harper’s to enact a severance tax on drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Harper’s
House Bill 82 would impose a 3.5 percent severance tax on top of the existing impact fee, which was enacted in 2012. The fee is designed to help communities where drilling takes place address impacts on things like roads, housing and other infrastructure, but it also supports a variety of statewide environmental programs. The impact fee has generated more than $850 million so far, and every community – even Montgomery County, which does not have a single gas well – is benefitting from these funds.
Because the impact fee is working well, Harper’s proposal would leave the fee in place and then direct additional severance tax revenue to the Public School Employees Retirement System to reduce the unfunded liability that is driving up costs at both the state and school district levels.
The program is available for viewing at
KateHarper.net by clicking on the “video” button from the left navigation bar.
Representative Kate Harper
61st District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Rep. Harper’s Blue Bell Office
610.277.3230
KateHarper.net /
Facebook.com/RepKateHarper