Cracker plant tax break may leave schools with crumbs

[SteelCityDem]

Times were so tough in Center Township, Beaver County, in the early '80s that a McDonald's closed up shop.

Daniel Matsook shared that tidbit of local lore as he drove among the vast smorgasbord of big box stores and strip-mall retail that punctuate the township's main drag. Mr. Matsook, one of several Matsooks to coach high school football in the county, is currently more worried about dollars and cents than Xs and Os.

As the superintendent of the sprawling Central Valley School District, he's the guy who will have to make the numbers work when -- and if -- Royal Dutch Shell builds a petrochemical plant along the Ohio River.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/brian-oneill/cracker-plant-tax-break-may-leave-schools-with-crumbs-651513/#ixzz25WCBU0uW

[enough]

1. We're not talking saltines.

snip>

That plant is mostly good news because it means jobs. This cracking plant, fed by the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom, would take the place of a zinc smelting plant. That company, Horsehead, is moving operations to a new smelter in North Carolina that's supposed to start up late next year.

The trouble with this industrial version of musical chairs is what it took to lure a multinational like Shell. Trickle-down economics sounds simple, but so does "billion-dollar tax break.'' (That's the "free'' in free market, kids.) The Central Valley School District and its feeder communities are about to face what Pittsburgh does with its hospitals and universities: a regional economic engine that pays no property taxes.

The school district would lose $275,000 in property taxes if the plant site becomes a Keystone Opportunity Zone. Potter Township, the rural community of 540 residents that hosts the plant, would lose about $40,000 -- roughly 7 percent of its budget.

The cracker plant would be exempt from state taxes, too, a break that would last 15 years under the legislation pushed by Gov. Tom Corbett and approved by the Legislature this past winter. There's another 25-year tax break on the ethane purchased for the facility, too.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/brian-oneill/cracker-plant-tax-break-may-leave-schools-with-crumbs-651513/#ixzz25WFdC3AB

[benld74]

2. So WHY the HELL build it? IF it aint paying taxes,,,

what use is it?
Jobs? How many? It aint enough thats for sure.

[blue neen]

3. What a disgusting predicament...and unnecessary.

Why on earth does Shell need tax breaks--do they not make enough profits already?

Geez, this is infuriating. How many days until Governor Gashole and his Gang of Merry Marauders are out of office?