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Corbett, Onorato share 'business-friendly' view

HERSHEY, Pa. - Facing a well-attired audience of more than 1,000 businesspeople, the candidates for governor both pledged Monday night to reduce Pennsylvania's nationally highest corporate net-income tax and to generally make the state a more "business friendly" place.

Gubernatorial candidates Dan Onorato (left), a Democrat, and Tom Corbett, a Republican, shake hands in front of moderator Ted Koppel after their debate at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa. (DANIEL SHANKEN / AP)
Gubernatorial candidates Dan Onorato (left), a Democrat, and Tom Corbett, a Republican, shake hands in front of moderator Ted Koppel after their debate at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa. (DANIEL SHANKEN / AP)Read more

HERSHEY, Pa. - Facing a well-attired audience of more than 1,000 businesspeople, the candidates for governor both pledged Monday night to reduce Pennsylvania's nationally highest corporate net-income tax and to generally make the state a more "business friendly" place.

The occasion was the first of only two scheduled debates between Democrat Dan Onorato and Republican Tom Corbett leading up to the Nov. 2 election.

In a somewhat narrow discussion, moderated by former Nightline news anchor Ted Koppel and sponsored by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the candidates disagreed sharply on whether Pennsylvania should impose an excise tax on natural-gas extraction.

Onorato favored a tax; Corbett did not.

The state potentially could gain hundreds of millions of dollars annually by taxing the gas that is now beginning to be drilled in the mammoth Marcellus Shale deposit that stretches across the northern and western two-thirds of the state.

Gov. Rendell had hoped to raise $70 million this fiscal year from a tax on early gas extraction. Republican legislative leaders had pledged to enact some sort of tax by Oct. 1, but the issue now looks certain to be kicked to the next governor and the new legislature that also will be voted into office this fall.

Corbett said any new tax would cripple an industry that could provide hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next decade.

"We are on the very beginning of this industry," he said at the Hotel Hershey, "and I believe we need to develop this industry on behalf of all of the people of Pennsylvania."

Though all other states with gas drilling have excise taxes, Corbett said Pennsylvania could reap budget benefit from the industry without a tax.

He noted that hundreds of millions of dollars will be gained from royalties on the lease of state-owned lands for drilling. So far, he said, only 36,000 acres - out of a potential 500,000 - have been leased.

A Pennsylvania State University study projected that 80,000 to 100,000 people will find jobs, directly or indirectly, in the next two years alone because of the gas industry. Corbett said these people will pay taxes that will help the state.

Onorato, noting that even "Sarah Palin's Alaska" has a gas tax, said it was only fair for the gas industry to pay for the environmental monitoring that will be required.

He said he would use a tax to beef up financing for the state Department of Environmental Protection. He would use it to establish a fund that would help local communities cope with road damage and other costs of drilling. He would also establish a Growing Greener III fund to buy up land to preserve open space and clean up abandoned industrial sites for reuse.

He said he would increase training for state residents to qualify for gas industry jobs.

"These jobs should go to Pennsylvanians," he said.

On another issue, the candidates agreed that Pennsylvania faces a looming financial crisis from having to pay back $3 billion over the next two years to the federal government for borrowed workers' compensation funds.

Corbett said it might be necessary, in the future, for benefits to be reduced for laid-off workers. He also said that any employee who gets a severance benefit when he is let go from a job should not be eligible for benefits immediately.

Onorato was reluctant to say he'd cut benefits or raise payroll taxes. He said he'd try, as governor, to negotiate with the federal government to extend the time over which money has to be paid back.

The election, five weeks away, will mark the first time in eight years that the state picks a new governor.

A poll released Monday by Muhlenberg College and the Allentown Morning Call newspaper showed Corbett leading in the race by 9 percentage points.

The survey of 445 likely voters found Corbett with support from 46 percent of respondents. Onorato was backed by 37 percent. The remaining 17 percent were undecided.

The poll found that, with five weeks to go before the election, nearly one-third of voters hold no strong impression of either candidate.