See how much better it works to move the debate forward with reasoned conversations. Name calling, finger pointing, and shouting fu is childish and the first resort of the uneducated.
In the end I am in agreement. Another side note about myself. I have a relative (great, great uncle) who has a PA State Park dedicated and named after him. I'm proud of that and certainly don't want to see that diminish in any way. Drilling in our state parks is prohibited, should be prohibited and will never happen. If it were to happen that park would be done, nobody would visit. We have a lot of state parks but it still only amounts to less then 1% of the state. We don't need to go there.
As to the taxes paid. A tax is a tax. Its a weight, its a drag, its a governor (choke) on the progress of an enterprise. Its also, IMO a necessity. Just what, when, and how much is what I question. What separates them is where the money goes. They give them cute names to make you feel good about them, to make you think think they will be used for a common good that only an idiot would not be in support of, and they will only be levied on evil mean people. Once you dig into it, it becomes obvious its all a shell game. Deliberately made so convoluted and confusing that it is impossible to figure which way is up.
Impact Fee or Severance Tax, what's the difference? You are correct on the surface. Impact fee is a flat tax on every well site whether it produces a little or a lot or nothing at all. Drillers like this, or more specifically their bean counters, because its a known line item. The severance tax is a floating amount like you stated. The downside of this is it becomes a shell game, moving money, waiting to extract when things are less favorable, or rushing things when things are more favorable.
Corbett chose the flat tax route and it has been a bargain for tax companies. Whether it is enough to cover impact and contingencies plus a little icing for the state we'll never know until its over. Each municipality is also getting their own impact fee, and each land owner is getting his or her own impact fee. Unfortunately every person impacted is not getting some of the cake no matter how its sliced. No way around that no matter how you tax them. Except to do nothing, then nobody wins but at least nobody loses.
Id say by my measure we are doing better then VA in the natural gas industry. Far more gas businesses have started up or moved to PA. More jobs created, and more incomes have gone up. More money has come to this state, More money has been made in this state, and (Im making an uneducated guess here) more money has stayed in this state because of ALL the taxes on the other items listed. On the flip side, PA has a whole lot more shale then VA.
What I don't like about your way of thinking is that its the governments money, since we didn't have the 5% tax, our state lost $425 million. Why not say since we didn't have a 10% we lost $850 million? Or 30% which some Dems are suggesting we aim for. VA is getting 5% we should get at least 6% because we care more. Then VA counters, PA is getting 6% we should get at least 7. The typical way the liberal government negotiates is start with taking 90% of what you have but be kind and compromise and concede and let you keep half all the while making you feel lucky to get that much because someone else for whatever reason has less. May sound cynical but how else can you justify spending more money this year over last year (after adjusting for inflation even)and be considered a budget cut? Its a confusing and complex slight of hand to keep you looking over here instead of seeing whats really going on over there. Easily led by emotions. That is why we need less overlords and more educated individuals. Logic is key not feel good emotions.
And USP, I don't blame the energy company (big coal) for lighting the match. I blame the uneducated who thought it was a good idea. In the end we're all human. Wether we're led by a central scrutinizer or the combined will of individuals, mistakes will be made, accidents will happen. No system is perfect. One individual can and will screw things up pretty badly, but one with too much control can and will screw it up totally.