Thursday, November 19, 2015

Labor union protests Pa. budget framework, call for shale tax



Some of Gov. Tom Wolf's friends in organized labor are making some noise about the lack of a Marcellus Shale drilling tax in the emerging Pennsylvania state budget framework.

About three dozen members of Philadelphia school district's blue-collar union marched on the Capitol in Harrisburg Tuesday, calling for the additional levy on the natural gas industry.


Energy companies successfully avoided an additional tax in the tentative budget package still being negotiated between Wolf's administration and Republican legislative leaders.

Opponents of the tax cited low natural gas prices and the state's existing impact fee on each well drilled.

Denise Bennett has seen shale tax proposals come and go while she's been a cleaner for the Philadelphia schools (she's had the job 17 years), but she had hoped Wolf could secure the shale tax and do what he promised on the campaign trail: find extra funding for education.

"The teachers are working hard, we're working hard, and we need that funding for us to succeed," said Bennet. "That's why I'm out here today -- to fight for my generation, the next generation, and generation to come."

Go to Newsworks.org for details on why some Philly lawmakers oppose the budget.

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