Gov. Tom Corbett may be seeking opinions from his shale commission whether the state Senate-proposed drilling impact fee is a tax, but : it breaks the pledge.

“Make no mistake, this proposal is a tax increase based on any honest and objective analysis,” Norquist , whose committee would need to approve the impact fee, and other lawmakers.

“As such, a vote in favor of Senate Bill 1100 also represents a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a commitment which Gov. Corbett and 34 members of the legislature have made to their constituents to impose any and all efforts to raise taxes.”

That’s bad news for Corbett, whose talks with lawmakers over the next month on the state spending plan will include negotiating with a top Senate Republican, Joe Scarnati, who wants an impact fee passed with the budget.

The governor, who opposes a gas severance tax, so far has been punting on whether he’d consider an impact fee that sends most of the revenues to local governments and zero to the state operating budget. He wants his Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission to issue a recommendation on the issue in its July 22 report.

His spokesman, Kevin Harley, says that means no impact fee with the state budget. "He's been very clear - the budget is June 30, and the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission won't be ready until mid-July," Harley said.

When Scarnati first explained his plan, Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley . The ATR pledge doesn’t specifically include fees, though Corbett . 

Asked about Norquist's comment, Harley again said the governor is waiting on his panel before making up his mind about that proposal or any other potential fee that they might recommend. Administration staffers are reviewing Scarnati's proposal, he added.

A total of 34 state lawmakers - 30 in the House, and four in the Senate - have signed the ATR pledge. Here's (none of them are on the Senate panel where the impact fee bill currently sits.)

So what happens now? The , leaving Scarnati and other senators to ponder whether to up the ante of budget talks and insist on an impact fee. 

UPDATE: Scarnati, who also received Norquist’s missive, has responded with the letter below. He defends his legislative track record, saying he’s been “a constant guardian against the spend-and-tax philosophy,” and lists four reasons why he believes the impact fee is not a tax. 

Scarnati also asks Norquist to talk to Range, Chesapeake and other major shale drillers, who he says view it as “a welcomed proposal.”

Comments (2)

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written by mike, May 29, 2011

Who the heck elected Grover Norquist to run Pennsylvania? I know I didn't vote for this clown.

This bozo is also claiming that eliminating the millions of Federal tax dollars that oil and gas companies get is a tax increase as well.

Tell Grover to go back to Sesame Street or whatever rock he come out from under.

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written by FrackTrack, May 26, 2011

We already know that Pennsylvanians overwhelming support a severance tax. The question we're setting out to answer is which severance proposal benefits your area the most? Visit Today!

Today we released our severance tax distribution map that allows people to view how much money each of their localities would receive under each proposal that has been introduced.

You can view our severance tax distribution map at Simply select your county and click "Search". Your county will be drawn on the map with shaded regions and you can view a comparison of HB833, HB33 and SB1100 by clicking on each municipality.

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