Dear Editor

Your editorial “A Lesson in Less” told of the cutbacks the state is taking because of the revenue shortfall. But
Republicans in the state legislature are holding back on a potential source of revenue which would assist in
overcoming this shortfall

House Bill 1373 would amend the state General County Assessment Law to explicitly make underground
resources such as natural gas and oil subject to real estate assessment and taxation. The bill would require gas
companies to pay taxes on the resources they extract, but wouldn’t add any tax burden to landowners.

However, the bill has been stalled in the House Finance Committee since May 2007, and sentiment among
supporters is that State Senate Republicans, on principle, won’t support a tax bill

Scientists estimate the natural resource to be worth as much as one trillion dollars which would go a long way to
help Pennsylvania’s budget shortfall. The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, in a report, supported the
governor's proposal, saying severance taxes are common across the United States as a way to cover the public
costs -- most notably environmental ones -- created by resource extraction. 14 states with greater natural-gas
production than Pennsylvania levy a severance tax or a conservation fee. The report concludes that without a
tax, the costs of drilling would be shifted to local taxpayers.

While all taxes are burdensome and painful, this bill is beneficial to the entire commonwealth. Rather than shift
the burden of drilling to the taxpayer, shouldn’t the companies who are profiting from exploiting this resource
give something back to the state they are profiting from? Also why are the Republicans trying to blatantly kill a
bill which would help the citizens of Pennsylvania as well as provide funds to cover costs to remedy any
environmental remediation necessary from the drilling and extraction?

I ask Bucks County State Senators Greenleaf , McIlhinney Tomlinson and Wonderling why they would rather
close at least 35 state parks and 1,000 miles of state forest roads, which benefit the citizens of Pennsylviania
rather than tax gas drillers who make profits exploiting Pennsylvania’s natural resources?

David Meiser