As the debate unfolds, both sides will use examples from other states. Researchers warn that there are big challenges to comparing the vastly different approaches, and many reasons to proceed with caution in deciding how to structure a tax.
“It’s a bag of snakes more than a can of worms,” said David Passmore, director of the Institute for Research in Training & Development at Penn State University.
Most of the debate is about “severance” taxes, a tax on natural resources that are being “severed” from the earth. Nearly all the money collected comes from oil and natural-gas production.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2012/03/19/oil-gas-taxes-vary-widely-by-state.html