State coal subsidies

Pennsylvania
From the Pennsylvania 2008-2009 state budget:


 * Description: The purchase or use of coal is exempt from taxation.


 * Purpose: This exemption provides special tax treatment of coal versus alternative energy forms. Other major energy sources are exempt only when used directly by the purchaser for residential use. Encouragement of coal consumption may have been perceived as providing or preserving employment when mining was a major employer within the commonwealth.


 * Estimates (Dollar Amounts in Millions):

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 $ 194.8 $ 203.8 $ 213.3 $ 223.2 $ 233.6 $ 244.5 $ 255.8
 * Beneficiaries: Approximately 120,500 households and 7,400 businesses benefit from this tax expenditure.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Federal coal subsidies
 * Estimating U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources 2002-2008
 * External costs of coal
 * Health effects of coal
 * Mercury and coal
 * Heavy metals and coal
 * Sulfur dioxide and coal
 * Environmental impacts of coal
 * Air pollution from coal-fired power plants
 * United States and coal
 * TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill
 * TVA Widows Creek coal waste spill
 * Coal waste
 * Coal sludge
 * Martin County sludge spill
 * Coal slurry impoundment
 * Retrofit vs. Phase-Out of Coal-Fired Power Plants
 * Coal and transmission
 * Coal-fired power plant capacity and generation
 * Coal plants near residential areas
 * Comparative electrical generation costs
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Existing U.S. Coal Mines
 * Google Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal initiative
 * Gore zero-carbon proposal
 * Opposition to existing coal plants
 * Natural gas transmission leakage rates