His ironclad stance is one big reason the bill that awaits his pen has the drillers paying a local-impact fee, not a tax.
But even before the ink was dry on the 174-page bill, questions were being asked in many quarters: Is this soon-to-be-law fee all that different from a tax? Or is it just a linguistic way of saving face?
"Ultimately, I think it's a political question," said Joel Burcat, an environmental lawyer with Saul Ewing who specializes in oil and gas law. "I personally don't think you can call it a tax, but I know there are those who will."
Indeed, there is a chorus.
The Republican legislator who pushed hardest for it said even he occasionally forgets himself and calls it a tax. Several conservative groups say it is a punishing tax, capable of doing what Corbett vowed to avoid: driving away an industry that is creating jobs.
"A fee is tied to actual impacts, whether regulation, or inspection, or actual costs to the government for an activity," said Matt Brouillette, who heads the Commonwealth Foundation, a Harrisburg-based free-market think tank. "This fee is tied to gas prices and has nothing to with actual costs."
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the Washington-based group led by Grover Norquist, e-mailed Pennsylvania legislators last week as they were poised to vote on the bill: "ATR will notify and remind your constituents as to how you vote on this unnecessary tax increase."
