Our not-so-beautiful balloon

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A long-delayed severance tax on natural gas drillers — a levy enacted by every other major gas-producing state — would go a long way toward helping Pennsylvania solve its systemic budget shortfalls and provide better funding for public education. Instead, the drillers pay a local-impact fee to the rural townships that rake in revenue totaling more than a billion dollars. This largesse is of course wonderful for these small municipalities but does little for anyone else.
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