2/6/17
by News Department on 02/06/17Pa Budget...
When Gov. Tom Wolf delivers his budget address Tuesday, he faces yet another year of billion-dollar deficits and few politically viable options to fill the gap.
The Democratic governor will not seek an increase in state income and sales taxes to address the large deficit, since the Republican-controlled Legislature rebuffed his previous efforts to do so during his first two years in office.
So far, Wolf has not indicated whether he again will ask lawmakers to approve a state severance tax on natural gas production.
According to the state Independent Fiscal Office, Pennsylvania has an overall budget deficit of nearly $3 billion in fiscal 2017-18 as costs for public pensions and human services outpace revenue growth.
Wolf announced plans late last month to merge four agencies into a new Department of Health and Human Services — a move he said will save the state tens of millions of dollars.
The budget address is followed by several weeks of Appropriations Committee hearings and then counter proposals from the Republican-controlled Legislature in the spring.
The legal deadline for adopting the budget is June 30.
