* Republicans, meanwhile, continue to reject a severance tax on natural gas drillers, a source of recurring revenue that would grow as the industry regains its feet in the years to come as pipelines and processing plants come online.
So, instead, the Republican-controlled General Assembly continues to try to nibble away at the problem from the edges, relying on vice and feats of accounting legerdemain to shore up the bottom line.
And every year, they find themselves back in the same place, doing the same thing over and over again.
It’s long past time for the charade – and the potential crippling impacts on the future ability of Pennsylvania to function – to end.
Pennlive: House Republicans need to get serious about solving Pa’s revenue problems: Editorial
By PennLive Editorial Board
Always handy with a quip, former state Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria, used to joke that, when it came to making the tough choices in Harrisburg during budget season, “everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.”
In that case, the non-starter of a revenue plan that state House Republicans offered Tuesday to break Pennsylvania’s three-week-old budget stalemate looks like a bid for immortality.
That is, if immortality can be obtained through a series of hare-brained short-term fixes, expanded gambling and further liberalization of Pennsylvania’s liquor laws.
With the possible exception of liquor reform, which is long overdue, the no-new-taxes plan offered by the House GOP is more of the same kick-the-can budgeting that has steadily eroded the state’s credit rating, prompted it to slide further down most economic indicator lists, and offered little in the way of long-term stability to Pennsylvania taxpayers.
That doesn’t mean they’re the only ones to blame for this annual mess. There’s plenty of shared responsibility, which we covered in an editorial nearly two weeks ago.
Senate Republicans have already balked at a proposal to allow tens of thousands of so-called “video gaming terminals” at bars and restaurants across the state. With typical understatement, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, says such an expansion remains a “vote problem” for his caucus.
Senate Republicans similarly remain cool to further changes in state liquor laws and don’t see them as long-term money makers.
They have instead largely pinned their hopes of raising the $2.2 billion necessary to balance a $32 billion spending plan on the very un-Republican notion of borrowing against the proceeds of the state’s share of the nationwide tobacco settlement.
Corman raised questions Tuesday about the lack of new tax dollars in the House plan, which Gov. Tom Wolf has justifiably insisted be part of the mix to get his buy-in on the borrowing plan.
“Recurring revenue is always difficult. I understand that. Many of the members [of the current Legislature] didn’t create the budgetary problems that we’re in between the economy, pensions, long-term care,” Corman told PennLive’s Charles Thompson on Tuesday.
Twenty days into the new fiscal year, the intractable nature of this discussion underlines the broader, structural problems in the way that Pennsylvania debates and passes its annual budget.
You simply cannot come up with a plan to spend money (the general appropriations bill), debate it, pass it and send it to the governor, and then shrug and say you’ll figure out a way to pay for it later.
Don’t believe us? Walk into a Ferrari dealership, pick out the most expensive model on the lot and then tell the salesman that you’ll pay him for it later, maybe next week or next month, and see how far you get.
No cash, or no plan to pay, no keys. It’s fundamental to the transaction.
In an ideal universe, spending and revenue bills would be passed at the same time. And one could not pass without the other first being approved. The state Constitution, keep in mind, requires a balanced budget.
Wolf bowed to political reality earlier this year when he took increases to Pennsylvania’s sales and personal income taxes off the table.
But it left the state in a box – it’s much harder to raise $2.2 billion when you eliminate those taxing options.
But it’s not impossible. You have two choices – reduce spending further or look elsewhere for reliable and ongoing sources of revenue.
Republicans, meanwhile, continue to reject a severance tax on natural gas drillers, a source of recurring revenue that would grow as the industry regains its feet in the years to come as pipelines and processing plants come online.
So, instead, the Republican-controlled General Assembly continues to try to nibble away at the problem from the edges, relying on vice and feats of accounting legerdemain to shore up the bottom line.
And every year, they find themselves back in the same place, doing the same thing over and over again.
It’s long past time for the charade – and the potential crippling impacts on the future ability of Pennsylvania to function – to end.
Read the article here.