Gas tax unlikely part of tentative budget deal

Mary Wilson

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Mary Wilson covered Pennsylvania’s state Capitol for public radio stations across the state for WITF until 2016. She reported on state politics, budgets, and legislative undertakings large and small. She also followed the brief but wondrous life of Pennsylvania’s voter ID law. She has written about public pension debt and design. She has overdosed on crosstabs. She previously worked for a Maryland state senator and at public radio station WFUV in the Bronx, where she interviewed academics and witnessed a small chunk of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s life behind podiums.

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November 10, 2015 | 9:38 AM

David Flores/ via Flickr

A severance tax on Marcellus Shale drillers does not appear to be part of a tentative state budget deal in Harrisburg.

Legislative leaders and the Wolf administration said Monday they have a rough map to reach a final budget deal by Thanksgiving.

“This is the first time I think that we’ve seen a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Jeff Sheridan, spokesman for Governor Tom Wolf.

The details remain fuzzy.

The Wolf administration says Republicans have committed to a $350 million funding boost for schools – a sizable increase, if not as much as the governor wanted. Republicans declined to specify an education spending figure when asked by reporters, but agreed that the working budget framework includes a substantial increase for schools.

The extra education money will require some mix of a higher sales tax, greater taxes on tobacco, changes to the state liquor stores, scaled-back retirement benefits for future state and public school hires, and some kind of gambling expansion.

The tentative agreement does not appear to include a Marcellus Shale natural gas tax. Wolf had called for the tax, which Republican leaders, with varying commitment, have resisted.

“I think we have a good framework of what will hopefully get us a signed, sealed, delivered budget by Thanksgiving,” said Republican House Majority Leader Dave Reed. He said that Republicans and Democrats in both the House and Senate had been briefed on the rough outline – a fact that signals a final agreement is nigh.

“It’s certainly not a sure thing,” cautioned Bill Patton, spokesman for the Democratic House minority leader. “Democrats still have a lot of questions and our votes are not guaranteed yet.”