Business must be legislative priority for fall session

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has much work to do in a short amount of time as legislators return to work this month and Gov. Tom Corbett and the Republican majority anxiously push their agenda items before the Dec. 15 holiday break.

Top priorities include: a Marcellus Shale severance tax or impact fee; liquor sales privatization; transportation funding; corporate tax reform; private school vouchers; prevailing wage laws; a health insurance exchange; and thanks to the indecisiveness and lack of cohesion in Harrisburg, an Act 47 takeover plan for third-class cities that can't get their own acts together.

We've opined on more than one occasion that an impact fee or severance tax on shale extraction would stunt growth of a burgeoning industry still in its infancy. Criticizing international energy companies with billions in profits each year is nothing more than reaching for low-hanging fruit in a pedestrian argument. It's estimated that drillers added more than $15 billion in capital investment to the commonwealth and provided more than $1 billion in state and local revenue since drilling began. They've also added more than 70,000 jobs, 71 percent of which went to Pennsylvanians.

We've also put our weight behind privatizing state alcohol sales. The state Liquor Control Board claims it brought in $488 million in wine and liquor taxes last year. House Majority Leader Mike Turzai claims the state would garner at least $500 million in annual taxes and fees and an additional $2 billion by auctioning liquor licenses on the wholesale and retail markets.

Transportation funding is an issue that is impossible to ignore. Gov. Tom Corbett proposed a five-year, $2.5 billion funding package that would include increasing vehicle registration fees, uncapping the oil company franchise tax and removing state police funding from the transportation budget. Tolling, again, may emerge as a solution. It's estimated the commonwealth needs some $3.5 billion annually to repair transportation infrastructure. This will be a tough decision; however, as a transportation hub where the midstate economy lives and dies by its highways, a commitment must be made.

Critical legislative priorities must also once and for all complete the phase-out of the capital stock and franchise tax by 2014, reduce the corporate net income tax, remove the cap on net operating loss deductions, address e-commerce collection of sales taxes, repeal the inheritance tax, expand research and development tax credits and continue job creation tax credits.

These priorities would have a very positive effect on midstate business, and they need to be addressed immediately. The legislature also must continue to consider pension reform and initiatives for Third- Class cities, as well as decide how the state will take over Harrisburg and implement the Act 47 plan.

Solving the commonwealth's short- and long-range problems won't come without pain; however, allowing business to grow stronger without hampering it with taxes and regulations is the sure-fire way to grow a stable and sustainable economy.