Letter to the Editor: Reduce spread of flu, and resulting hospitalizations, by getting vaccine

Letter to the Editor: Pennsylvania’s hospitals make progress in reducing hospital-acquired conditions

I caution my fellow Pennsylvanians against supporting the creation of new taxes like the severance tax.Pennsylvania already has a tax on natural gas drilling, the impact tax. Millions have been collected and disbursed across all of Pennsylvania&#8217;s 67 counties from this tax.Two things set the impact tax structure apart from what we are accustomed to with Harrisburg taxes.First, most of the money from the impact tax is required to go back to local communities. Second, local leaders ultimately decide how the impact tax money is spent. Contrast that with the proposed severance tax plan in which Harrisburg politicians would decide where and how to spend the money, with little to no local control.If you support a severance tax, understand that you are also supporting the elimination of local control on those spending decisions and turning them over to the Harrisburg politicians. After watching this multi-month budget fight, I have a lot more faith in local leaders to decide how best to spend our tax dollars than I do the Harrisburg politicians.Alan LispiScranton

Letter to the Editor: Severance tax wouldn’t benefit communities in same way as existing impact fees