Harrisburg >> About the only thing most area lawmakers liked about Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed $29.9 billion budget was his willingness to address property taxes.
There was a consensus among local legislators that a better school funding formula and cutting property taxes were positive measures mentioned in the Democratic governor’s address on Tuesday.
“Without a doubt, property tax concerns,” said state Rep. David Maloney, R-130th District, when asked where the governor has the most support on the budget. “He mentioned property tax specifically eight times in the budget, half of the address was related to directly or indirectly to property taxes, so it is overwhelmingly the priority.”
The fissures start to show when it comes to budget numbers, especially the $4 billion in higher taxes proposed by Wolf.
In his address, Wolf recommended an increase in the state sales tax and personal income tax as well as a hike in the cigarette tax, among others.
“His proposals cancel each other out, promising $1,000 of property tax relief but raising the (personal income tax) of Pennsylvania, it is giving with one hand and with the other hand taking away,” said state Rep. Tim Hennessey, R-26th District.
State Rep. Marcy Toepel, R-147th District, said, “I just think the numbers are probably not realistic. I don’t see a scenario where we can approve those kinds of tax increases.”
Several local state representatives applauded the governor for working with the House in the months leading up to his budget address. Several members of the House said that they had met privately or in a group with the governor. Wolf invited members to the governor’s mansion, and stopped by offices in the Capitol.
“You have to give him credit for that personal touch and outreach. He actually came to my office about a month ago, engaging in casual conversation. He mentioned his connection to The Hill School,” said state Rep. Tom Quigley, R-146th District. “You have to give him credit for personal outreach, for meeting with people and discussing ideas.”
There was also a show of some support for the severance tax proposed for natural gas. Wolf wants to impose a 5-percent severance tax on the state’s booming Marcellus shale industry.
“In our area there are a number of legislators, both Republican and Democrat who support a severance tax on natural gas. When you look at what is the most doable, there is bipartisan support for that where we are. But in other parts of the state, that is not necessarily the case. For my constituents, that is widely supported, though” said state Rep. Warren Kampf, R-157th District.
The overall budget shows a spending increase of about $4.7 billion dollars in increased state spending – a 16-percent hike, according to Quigley.
“Some of the priorities may have been out-of-whack in the past budgets, and we may have had to make some hard line cuts then,” Quigley said. “Things are getting better but that is not a green light to spend money hand over fist.
After the governor outlined his spending plan to the joint session of the General Assembly, legislators got to work sifting through the measures and calculating what it means for constituents.
Even when Pennsylvania has a Republican governor and Republican majority in the General Assembly, Kampf said there is still a long period of negotiations and compromises that are made in the budget process.
“It would be great to look into a magic crystal ball or something to know. We can speculate and we can hope,” Maloney said. “At the end of the day, as negotiations just start, the product is going to be a whole lot different than what we saw today.”
Democrats, of course, were more favorable toward the address than Republicans.
“What we heard today was a bold plan by Governor Wolf to finally change our system of funding public schools solely through unfair property taxes. It is a plan with many moving parts that I will review over the coming days and weeks in terms of its impact on the residents of Chester County,” said state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th District.
Area lawmakers said they were willing and even encouraged by Wolf’s energy and desire to work together on the final budget.
“It’s a new time and he’s got a different direction that he’s trying to take the state, and we will work with him every way we can,” Hennessey said. “But we have to be protective of our tax payers.”
