It’s not every day a Republican supports a tax, let alone a tax on natural gas drilling. Yet Tom McGarrigle is out to prove the conventional wisdom wrong.
The contest for the State Senate’s 26th district is one of the most competitive in the commonwealth and could very well determine control of the chamber.
GOP nominee Tom McGarrigle sought to illustrate his policy (and moderate) bona fides by calling for a 4% severance tax on natural gas drilling in an op-ed for the Delaware County Daily Times.
“This was a summer of missed opportunity in Harrisburg,” McGarrigle wrote. “That missed opportunity – the chance to impose a severance tax on corporations extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale – will hurt homeowners in the form of higher property taxes and Pennsylvania students in the form of less money in our classrooms.”
McGarrigle acknowledged that the concept of a severance tax was “taboo among Republicans in the Legislature.” He asserted that the revenue generated would go to funding schools, which would in turn reduce property taxes.
“We have a booming natural gas industry that is making billions of dollars annually,” the Delaware County Council Chairman explained. “Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s fee on Marcellus Shale natural-gas wells is the lowest among 11 states. The severance tax of 4 percent that I have proposed will put Pennsylvania in the middle of the pack compared to other states. Natural gas companies would pay their fair share, and it would not hinder the future development of the industry.”
McGarrigle is currently running against Democratic nominee John Kane, the head of Plumbers Local 690.
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5 Responses
Sounds like mcgarrigle is talking like a democrat because is in a tough election against a superior candidate in john Kane and I hope the people don’t buy his story. He prob had his fingers crossed behind his back when he said it!!
To: Tom McGarrigle
From: Voters
Subj: November Election
Msg: Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye.
PASD 26 already has a moderate GOP Senator Ted Erickson representing us…Ted is like McGarrigle in favor of an extraction tax, and it still can’t get through the senate or the house…electing McGarrigle DOES NOT CHANGE THAT!…Moreover McGarrigle’s biggest contributor is Senator Dom Pileggi, who is in the pocket of teh energy industry and the anti-public education crowd…McGarrigloe is already bought and paid for by the two groups that oppose what he is promising to do.
To effect any change in Harrisburg, to tax the marcellus shale extraction, and properly fund education in the 26th and the State, we have to change the playing the field and FLIP the Senate to Democratic control and elect a new Governor. Don’t let McGarrigle try to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes…it is time to turn the page and move ahead…let’s elect Democrats in DELCO and Democrats to control the State Senate.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the impact fee set to sunset if a severance is signed into law?
The guv better get used to the feeling of cold hard steel being thrust into his back.