This Reports and Briefing Papers explores Governor Ed Rendell’s proposed 2009-2010 budget, which would enact a severance tax on the extraction of natural gas. Pennsylvania is the only state with substantial mineral wealth that does not levy a severance tax or fee on the extraction of this finite, natural bounty. This brief examines how selected other states distribute the proceeds of their severance tax to help affected entities provide the public goods and services demanded by the resource extraction.