12/23/16
by News Department on 12/23/16No PA tax increase...
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he will not ask Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature to raise taxes on sales or income in his upcoming budget proposal.
Wolf said he will instead propose a budget balanced with cuts and steps to make state government operate more efficiently.
He was not ready to discuss the steps he plans to take to save money, although he pointed to his move last week to eliminate positions in state government, noting it would save roughly $100 million a year.
He also would not say whether he will seek to increase aid to public schools.
Still, Wolf said he will keep pressing lawmakers to raise taxes on the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry. Wolf is scheduled to release his budget proposal in early February. It will be his third budget proposal, and perhaps his most important.
The Republican-controlled Legislature has rejected nearly every penny of his proposals to increase sales or income taxes in his first two budget proposals.
