Now that we have doomed the national economy to four more years of stagnation or decline, it's time to think about what we can do to improve the economy locally and in the state.
Before we can fix the problems, we have to know what the problems are. Pennsylvania has the highest corporate tax rate in the country and the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Is it any wonder companies aren't knocking the door down to get into Pennsylvania? This makes no sense. If you want to collect corporate taxes, you must have corporations to tax and with these tax rates we won't be attracting any new business.
Here's an interesting fact. The economy of Texas has been improving even as the rest of the country has been at a standstill. That is because they have a personal and corporate income tax rate of 0.00%. That's right, no income tax and the state still has plenty of money. How do they do that? First, they don't spend like drunken sailors and second, they tax every gallon of oil that comes out of the ground.
Here are the reasons that it would make sense for Pennsylvania to eliminate corporate income taxes and tax natural gas. Corporations have a choice where to do business and they choose those places that have lower taxes. Gas companies have to drill for gas in the places where the gas is.
This gas belongs to the people of Pennsylvania and it is only fair that those who are going to take it and make money from it should pay the people something for that privilege. Now here's the best part. Much of that gas is being sold outside the state and how great is it to have the rest of the world paying our taxes for us? If our elected officials can't see the sense in this, then maybe we need to replace them with people who can think outside the party box.
Paul Rinker
Montoursville
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom
