Recently, after weeks of warning about the consequences of the General Assembly's failure to fully fund the budget this year and in future years, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Pennsylvania’s credit rating. This will lead to higher interest costs and, thus, tax increases at all levels of government, perhaps for years to come.

After weeks in which Speaker Turzai has blocked action, A bipartisan group of legislators are trying to pass a shale tax in the House of Representatives today. We expect the House version of the plan to be better than the on already passed by a bipartisan group in the PA Senate.

A shale tax on natural gas drilling — also known as the severance tax — will mostly not fall on Pennsylvania residential gas consumers, as almost all natural gas produced in PA is sold out of state. Pennsylvania residential gas consumers already pay the shale tax put in place by every other state.

Pennsylvanians must demand action to balance the budget with a shale tax before the worst consequences of the budget crises are felt.