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RMU Poll Finds Support of Same-Sex Marriage and Extraction Tax

lgbt-pa-flagA new poll by Robert Morris University found support of both same-sex marriage in the commonwealth as well as a severance tax on natural gas drillers.

49.5% of Pennsylvanians support same-sex marriage while 40.7% oppose it.

These results come after a U.S. District Court judge made same-sex marriage legal in the state by striking down a 1996 ban on May 20th. The survey was conducted from May 6th to May 13th, just prior to the ruling by Judge John E. Jones III.

Another hot-button issue in Pennsylvania is whether to enact a severance tax on those extracting natural gas from Marcellus Shale formation. The state government currently does not tax these companies, but, according to the Robert Morris poll, a majority are in favor of such a tax.

They found that 58.2% want a severance or extraction tax placed on the natural gas companies.

All four gubernatorial candidates in the Democrat Primary argued for taxing the natural gas drillers, and this issue is sure to come up during the race between Gov. Tom Corbett and challenger Tom Wolf.

The Poll sampled opinions of 506 Pennsylvania residents statewide. The survey was conducted May 6-13, 2014. It was sponsored by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. All surveys were conducted using an online survey instrument. The poll has a +/- 4.5 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level on a composite basis.

4 Responses

  1. Herbert-

    1) The taxes/fees they pay for operation of vehicles is small potatoes and just a general cost of doing business. Pizza delivery trucks have to be registered too. BTW, are all the oil/gas vehicles even registered in PA? There must be out-of-state vehicles involved.

    2) A lot of the landowners are getting screwed, especially when the wells don’t get cleaned up or run dry too soon.

    3) The various permit fees are generally one-time expenses regardless of how much of PA’s natural resources are pulled out of the ground.

    4) You are conflating state and federal income taxes by workers and landowners as though these count as taxes on the industry itself.

    5) Other states do all this AND still charge extraction taxes. Try totaling up these fees/taxes by the oil/gas drillers JUST FOR drilling (not income taxes paid by employees) and compare that to how much they are actual making from the oil/gas they are extracting.

  2. How many tax on natural gas do they want? The gas drilling companies, landowners and natural gas users already pay these.
    .Natural Gas Facts

    1 They create jobs and pay workers that pay income tax
    2 They pay registration fees for vehicles
    3 They pay a motor fuels tax
    4 They pay for a permit to withdraw water from water sources
    5 They pay gas well storm water permit for well pads
    6 They pay a well bore permit
    7 They pay a well permit for each well drilled from the main bore. Can be as many as 12
    18 They pay a landowner lease
    19 They pay a landowner royalty
    20 They pay a Corporation tax
    21 They pay a tax on profit to the state
    22 They pay a tax on profit to the Fed Govt
    23 The landowners pay state tax on royalties
    24 The landowners pay Fed tax on the royalty
    25 They repair the roads they use. Something the state gets 44 cents a gallon for but spends on other than roads and bridges.
    26 The natural gas buyer pays a tax
    27 They pay for permits and right of way for pipelines to get gas to market.
    28 Have I missed anything. Thats already 27 fees the natural gas industry pays
    29 Now they have an extraction tax and impact fees these 2 will be 28 and 29 fees the industry and landowners pay.
    30 I forgot this one silly me. If your land is Clean and Green and the gas company drills a well or uses some of your Clean and Green acres. The used acreage is no longer Clean and Green and is now taxable as non Clean and Green. And if my memory is good the tax on that used acreage is payable by the land owner for the last 7 years that the land owner received a tax discount on that land for Clean and Green even though it was clean and green for that 7 years. There was talk about doing away with that but I am not sure if it passed
    31 The land owner pays a tax on the lease money to the state.
    32 The land owner pays a tax on the lease money to the Federal Government.
    What will they think of next.

  3. But of course, One-Term Tom has been ignoring the wishes of the voters for four years, preferring instead to follow the commands of his Big Oil frackmasters. Hence, his throwing open our pristine state parks to frackers and Gas Boom wildcatters from out of state. Doesn’t look like much of hunter OR hiker, does he?

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  • Do you agree that ByteDance should be forced to divest TikTok?


    • Yes. It's a national security risk. (60%)
    • No. It's an app used by millions and poses no threat. (40%)
    • What's ByteDance? (0%)

    Total Voters: 30

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