Governor Tom Wolf in Erie standing with local lawmakers, asking the community to support taxing shale.  

In the midst of a budget crisis Governor Tom Wolf says that money is flowing out of state as natural gas drillers profit off of the state.  He says capturing of that money will benefit all Pennsylvanians. Governor Tom Wolf stood in the council chambers of City Hall asking lawmakers and the public to support a severance tax on the extraction of natural gas, which is currently tax-free.  

“Let’s just cut through this nonsense,” said Wolf, “…I’ll manage because we don’t want uncertainty out there for our counties that have all these human services responsibilities. They need funding and we cannot have an impasse.”

Pennsylvania faces a $2 billion deficit in the $32 billion spending plan for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.  The governor says the funds would benefit schools.  The governor is hoping that all sides can come to an agreement.

Lawmakers will return to Harrisburg next week.