HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania business tax that predated the Civil War and in modern times pumped hundreds of millions of dollars a year into state coffers has been swept away by the new year.

The 171-year-old capital stock and franchise tax expired Thursday as 2015 ended, state Revenue Department spokesman Gary Miller said.

Efforts to phase out the tax began under Gov. Tom Ridge in 2000, but the timetable was modified several times to soften the impact on state revenue.

Former Gov. Tom Corbett, a fellow Republican, implemented the final phase-out schedule and Gov. Tom Wolf let it stand as part of his business-tax reforms in this year’s budget plan.

“Pennsylvania’s economic prosperity has long been hobbled by an outdated tax structure that fails to incentivize job growth,” said the governor, a Democrat. “It was well past time for Pennsylvania to remove (this tax) from the books.”

Gene Barr, president and chief executive of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, said the tax was unfair because it forced businesses to pay the tax on their assets even if they did not turn a profit.

“The prolonged and unpredictable nature of the phase-out, which included repeated delays and freezes, created uncertainty for employers and drove investment opportunities to states with friendlier tax climates,” Barr said.

But state Rep. Joe Markosek, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said the phase out has compounded the money woes that have contributed to a state budget stalemate in its seventh month.

“It’s a tax that a lot of folks will be happy to see go,” he said. “At the end of the day, we have to find replacement revenue, which is more the issue now in my mind.”