The state House Republican Policy Committee held a hearing on Friday called Stopping New Energy Taxes to analyze how unfavorable energy policies negatively impact consumers and businesses.
The hearing also discussed how these policies drive investments outside of Pennsylvania.
Committee Chairman David H. Rowe (R-Snyder/Union/Mifflin/Juniata) and Rep. Jake Banta (R-Erie) hosted the hearing that was held at Stancliff Hose Co. Station 14 in Waterford.
Testifiers included Dan Coffee, Quantum EP executive vice president; Brian Sprague, a former small-business owner; and Kenny Stein, Institute for Energy Research vice president of policy.
“Energy taxes are passed through directly to consumers of course in the form of increased energy costs — higher prices at the pump, higher gas bills to heat homes — but it doesn’t end there,” Stein said. “Energy taxes raise costs at every step of the process, so the final cost of a product at the grocery store or the mall will be hit multiple times by an energy tax. This compounding effect means that energy taxes should always be instituted carefully if at all even in normal times. When inflation is still elevated, as today, energy taxes are perhaps the worst kind of intervention to pursue.”
The hearing builds on a Feb. 3 hearing with the same name that also examined energy policies and their impacts.