Month: July 2013

House GOP Saves Pa. From 28 Cent Per Gal Tax Hike

House State Government Committee Majority Chairman Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) issued the following statement  regarding final passage of Pennsylvania’s 2013-14 state budget.

“I voted for this year’s $28.4 billion state budget because in the
end it is a victory for limited government and limited government
spending.  For the third consecutive year, total spending growth falls
below the TABOR allowable growth rate of 2.54 percent by $59 million.
Best of all, fiscally-conservative House Republicans were able to hold the line and, ultimately, defeat Governor Corbett’s nearly $2 billion annual gas tax-driven transportation funding plan and a backdoor attempt by the state Senate to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare.

“No matter how you look at it, Medicaid expansion is a blatant attack on working taxpayers and a blatant violation of our Constitutional rights.  Pennsylvania needs to stand together with the states that have already rejected ObamaCare in full to protect our citizens’ freedoms and pockets from this accelerated spending nightmare.

“Rather than increasing taxes and fees to generate transportation
revenue out of the pockets of hard-working taxpayers, we should look to other areas ripe for cuts.   If we cut the Department of Public Welfare budget by 10 percent, more than $1 billion in revenue could be generated for necessary infrastructure improvements and repairs.  Using the money from the sale of the state liquor stores could also generate $1 billion.  Tax and fee increases are the wrong answer for funding roads and bridges.  I will continue my fight to protect taxpayers.”

House GOP Saves Pa. From 28 Cent Per Gal Tax Hike

House GOP Saves Pa. From 28 Cent Per Gal Tax Hike

Budget Sets Record For Basic Ed Spending

The new state budget increases the basic education subsidy by $122 million reaching putting it an an all-time high of $5.5 billion reports Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association.

GOP Saves Health Care For Needy

GOP Saves Health Care For Needy — State Rep. Ryan Aument (R-41) has tweeted that “Medicaid Expansion effort in the PA House fails by a 108-94 vote. A major win for Pennsylvania taxpayers.”

The plan as approved in the state Senate was to expand  Medicaid to low-income workers without considering how the expansion would be funded in the long term or expanding the existing number of doctors much less those willing to accept Medicaid patients. This would have meant that those now eligible for the program would have had to fight with the newcomers for attention from the existing pool of doctors willing to treat them.

GOP Saves Health Care For Needy

Omnibit Of The Day

Ask yourself why anyone would want to walk 871 miles on his hands from Vienna, Austria to Paris, France. Johann Huslinger did it circa 1900.

— William W. Lawrence Sr.

Public Schools Fewer Students More Staff

Public Schools Fewer Students More Staff — For those who wonder why life seems to be getting harder with regard to the tax burden consider this tidbit from Commonwealth Foundation — Since 2000, public school enrollment has dropped by 60,000 students while staffing is up 17,000.

If the  cost — salaries, benefits, insurance, tuition etc. —  to the taxpayer for  each extra staffer is about $75,000 then the taxpayer is unnecessarily burdened by $1.275 billion.

And remember, in a sane world you need actually need fewer staff for fewer students.

Public Schools Fewer Students More Staff