All four Democratic candidates in the Pennsylvania governor’s race favor some sort of tax on the fracking industry. They differ slightly in amount and type, but they point out that this is a lucrative revenue source tapped by such states as Texas and West Virginia, but not Pennsylvania.
Some environmentalists oppose any tax on the natural gas industry. They argue that if we tax natural gas extraction, we will soon depend on the revenue and support for the industry will grow.
In a way this does make some sense. The cigarette tax, the lottery, and casino gambling all take advantage of people’s weaknesses to raise revenue for the state; our revenue stream would take a major hit if people refrained from those activities. The analogy breaks down, however, when we reflect that the fracking industry is already here, already has support, and is not about to go away, taxed or not taxed.
Certainly we could take steps to make it less damaging. Texas has imposed well water standards, Ohio is reducing air pollution from defective oil and gas equipment, and more significantly, Colorado has adopted a “zero tolerance” for methane releases, which is a huge problem in fracking. According to a recent article by Michael Bloomberg and Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund, leading oil and gas producers cooperated with Colorado’s regulators. Let’s regulate the industry, let’s tax the industry, and let us live in the real world.
No comments:
Post a Comment