Candidates for 41st Senate District discuss differences
BUTLER TWP — The two candidates for the vacant 41st District seat in the state Senate expressed different opinions on taxing natural gas wells, state pension obligations and other issues in a debate Thursday.
The debate between Republican Joe Pittman and Democrat Susan Boser, both of Indiana County, was hosted by Butler County Community College, sponsored by the Butler County Chamber of Commerce and the Butler Eagle, and broadcast by Armstrong and the Butler Radio Network.
Pittman and Boser are running in a special election being held during the May 21 primary to serve the two years left in the term of former Sen. Don White, who retired from the seat in March due to health reasons.The district includes eastern Butler County, Armstrong and Indiana counties, and part of Westmoreland County.Pittman was White's chief of staff since White was first elected in 2001.Boser is a public policy professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a doctorate in human services policy from Cornell University. She previously worked as a social worker and in drug and alcohol treatment for 20 years.The state assesses impact fees on gas wells and distributes most of the money to counties and municipalities where wells are drilled. Charging a severance tax based on the amount of gas extracted in addition to the impact fee has been proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf.“I'm strongly in support of imposing a severance tax,” Boser said.The money generated by a severance tax could be used for education and to provide high-speed broadband Internet service to rural areas, she said.“I honestly don't understand why we're leaving that money on the table,” Boser said.
Pittman said the impact fee has generated $1.4 billion and the money is given to impacted communities.“The impact fee is working just fine,” Pittman said.State employee and teacher pension obligations are financially “choking” school districts and state government, Pittman said.He said some pension reforms have been enacted and more are needed, but the payments must be made.Boser said the state should not hold pensions. The state should provide employees with market investment opportunities, she said.Eliminating real estate taxes is the best way to reform taxes, Pittman said.“The best way to address the issue is to eliminate the tax,” he said.Boser said she is not opposed to doing away with property taxes, but a bill introduced in the Legislature would eliminate the tax only for school districts and replace it with increases in income and sales taxes, placing a burden on people with lower income.She said she opposes eliminating property taxes on commercial and industrial properties.Boser said providing small businesses with access to low-interest loans and technical support would spur economic development in Butler County.She said attracting large companies that pay low wages by providing tax breaks hurts rural communities.Pittman said regulatory and lawsuit reform and overhauling the tax structure are needed to attract business.The state's 9.99 percent corporate net income tax is the highest in the country, Pittman said.
