Tax Hike Vote In Pa House Tomorrow

Tax Hike Vote In Pa House TomorrowTax Hike Vote In Pa House Tomorrow — The Pennsylvania House has scheduled a vote for tomorrow, Dec.19,  regarding the budget already approved by the State Senate which includes hiking the income tax from 3.08 percent to 3.3 percent.

According to various sources also it expands the sales tax to digital downloads and movies, adds a tax on e-cigarettes, hikes the cigarette tax 75 cents over two years — note: this very well might mean Pennsylvania loses money — and increases business filing fees for C-Corps to $600.
It is reported that Delaware County representatives Bill Adolph (165), Steve Barrar (160) and Nick Micarelli (162) will be among the Republicans voting for it. Frankly, considering the chaos that Gov. Wolf and his ego has caused this state we’d almost be inclined to give them a pass. But we can’t. It appears none of the underlying causes  such as incredibly out-of-control pensions and corrupt public work regulations that are among the things responsible for the state’s severe fiscal problems are going to be addressed.

If these men vote for a tax hike while failing to address the root causes of our crisis they should hang their heads in shame and their voters should not forget what they’ve done.

Steve Barrar has said he doesn’t think the (mild) pension reform on the table  would be upheld by our judges. Considering the results of the recent election he has a point. The point he’s missing, however, is that if our judges rule as he expects — which would be wrongly and corruptly — the reform is still not merely right but necessary.

And that means we have to fight. The power of the purse is a legitimate and rather gentle means of doing so. It is immoral to ask working people to bail out former Penn State President Rodney Erickson’s $477,591 pension.

If this point is hammered often enough even corrupt judges will get the message.

Tax Hike Vote In Pa House Tomorrow

State House Budget Vote Looms

State House Budget Vote Looms — Leo Knepper of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania tells us that the Pennsylvania House will be voting on the  senate’s budget framework tomorrow. State House Budget Vote Looms

Let your representative know not to get squishy. The hardworking little guys and gals are not the ones who should have to pay to get Pennsylvania out of the fiscal mess that was created by those who betrayed their trust.

Especially not until these people make the appropriate sacrifice.

You can let your representative know that you expect him or her to stand strong using this link: http://www.empowerpa.org/action/?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f39308%2frespond

State House Budget Vote Looms

 

WAMS Back In Senate Budget

WAMS Back In Senate BudgetBy Matthew Brouillette

Yesterday, Dec. 7,  the Pennsylvania Senate passed budget-related legislation: SB 1073 and SB 1082. Now, taxpayers can finally see what’s in Gov. Wolf’s “framework” for a new budget. Here are five things we know:

1. Excessive Spending Growth. The $30.8 billion budget represents record spending and a 5.4 percent increase over last year’s budget. Even including items shifted off budget last year, this amounts to an increase of $500 million more than inflation and population growth.

2. WAMs are back. The Senate budget includes a $103 million increase in Community and Economic Development spending. This includes several line-items identified as WAMs (or “walking around money”)—slush funds used for special projects. In the past, they’ve been used to buy votes and foster rampant corruption.

3. Problematic pension reform. The revised pension bill includes a side-by-side hybrid, with a smaller defined benefit pension and a defined contribution component. While a step in the right direction, it doesn’t get the politics out of pensions.

The proposal further underfunds teachers’ and state workers’ pensions and lacks transparency. It suspends a provision that requires pension bills to have an actuarial note explaining long-term impact before a vote.

4. No privatization in “liquor privatization.” The Senate liquor plan—which has been reported on but not yet passed—would retain the government monopoly over wholesale distribution. That means every retailer would continue to buy wine and spirits from the PLCB. There would be a “study” to recommend whether the state should privatize. On the retail side, state stores would remain open in perpetuity.

5. Higher Taxes. The Senate plan requires higher taxes. We know this will include some broad-based tax increase to generate the $600-$700 million needed to pay for the spending.

We don’t know what taxes will go up. There is no agreement on a tax plan; that is, the Senate passed a budget without the revenues to pay for it. It’s unclear if there is support in the Senate to pass a tax hike, but there are very clear signs there isn’t support in the House for a tax hike of this magnitude.

To see how your senator voted, here is the roll call for SB 1073 and SB 1082.

It’s not over yet. To voice your concern to your Senate and House members, email them today.

Mr. Brouillette is president and CEO of Commonwealth Foundation.

WAMS Back In Senate Budget

Chesapeake Energy Bankruptcy Seen With Tax

Chesapeake Energy Bankruptcy Seen With TaxBy Sen. Scott Wagner: Chesapeake Energy Bankruptcy Predicted With Wolf Tax

Last Friday, Dec. 4, PennLive.com published a story titled “Severance Tax ‘100 percent guaranteed’ to be in next PA budget, Wolf policy secretary says”.

I have a prediction that Governor Wolf and his policy secretary, John Hanger, might find interesting.

I consider myself to be a fairly qualified and experienced investor – I regularly go on Yahoo Finance and check out financials and news of public companies.

Here is my prediction: I predict that Chesapeake Energy (NYSE Symbol – CHK) will file for bankruptcy protection within the next 12 months.

Here is my reasoning:

#1 Natural gas prices are at historic lows – natural gas companies are not able to cover their fixed costs and cover debt payments at the current price – to simplify this – if gas is selling for $2  per gallon and your fixed costs are $3  per gallon the company is losing $1 per gallon, and as a result the company will burn through massive amounts of cash quickly – in business when you run out of cash – you have a HUGE problem.

I researched Chesapeake’s most recent financials – just in the quarter ending September 30, 2015 – their third quarter revenue was $2.893 billion   – after paying ALL expenses they lost $4.695 billion  – that means just in the third quarter alone Chesapeake would have burned through $1,802 billion  of cash. They cannot continue at this rate. Chesapeake will run out of cash.

#2 Natural gas pricing is not going up for quite some time because the natural gas supply is far GREATER than demand – in addition, there are almost 1100 gas wells in PA that have been drilled, and are capped, and are not producing gas. Almost all of the 1100 wells do not have pipe lines in place to carry the gas to the main transmission line so there is still a lot of infrastructure that needs to be installed. This infrastructure costs money. Gas companies do not have the cash to install these pipe lines at the current low natural gas prices.

#3 Another large issue is that oil and natural gas companies routinely hedge their prices to protect for a price collapse – this is a type of insurance – typically these hedges only go out for two years. In simple terms, many of the natural gas companies had hedges in place when prices were a lot higher that paid them double or triple the current market rate for their gas supply. When prices are as low as they currently are, hedging is not an option.

#4 Chesapeake Energy had a class action lawsuit filed against them last week by Pennsylvania landowners because they are deducting from royalty payments the cost to transport the gas from the wellhead to the main transmission line.

Many landowners  receive zero royalty payments after Chesapeake deducts the transport costs, and some land owners have received invoices to back bill for prior years transportation costs.

The class action lawsuit will be settled for cash that Chesapeake is running out of.

#5 If you are familiar with stock market investing there is term called margin. This term means that you can buy a stock for cash and the brokerage house will lend you money to buy more stock – this is called buying stock on margin. SEC rules do not allow a stock to be purchased on margin if it is under $5  per share. Last Thursday at the close of the New York Stock Exchange, Chesapeake stock closed under $5  per share. This means that any investor who used margin or borrowed money to purchase Chesapeake stock had a margin call which is a demand to sell the stock immediately so the loan is repaid. When a stock drops under $5  per share large investors flee. Investors will shy away from Chesapeake because their future does not look good.

This morning as I am writing this  ( 10:10 a.m. Dec. 7) Chesapeake stock is trading at $4.17 per share, down almost $.40 since the open of the stock market.

Chesapeake is one of several companies in Pennsylvania that are choking financially because natural gas prices are so low – there may very well be more companies than just Chesapeake Energy that will be forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

So what is my point? It’s this:  Governor Wolf ran his campaign for Governor telling everyone that he was going to get $1 billion dollars in severance taxes from the natural gas companies. With  current natural gas prices a severance tax would yield $100 million dollars at best.

There is currently an impact fee – tax in place – so the severance tax would cost the gas companies more money, which they do not have.

The reality is that the gas companies will pass any taxes on to consumers – which means YOUR gas bill will go up if there is a severance tax imposed.

Don’t believe me?

Read York Daily Record’s latest article, “Columbia Gas Gets Smaller Rate Hike Than Sought” which talks about the gas company passing on the costs.

And by the way, this morning the price for a barrel of oil dropped under $40 – it is currently at $38.71 at 10:20 a.m..

Oil companies are facing the same challenges as the natural gas industry because the price of oil is at historic lows.

Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District in the Pennsylvania Senate.

Chesapeake Energy Bankruptcy Predicted With Wolf Tax

Wolf Spends Sans Budget

Wolf Spends Sans Budget
While schools beg for funds, Wolf’s favorites continue to roll in the dough.

Wolf spends. A study by Pennsylvania legislators released yesterday, Dec. 3, has revealed that Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration spent $30.4 billion in state and federal money from July 1 through Oct. 31, despite the last budget authorization ending on June 30.

About $2.7 billion came from waivers, which is unspent money from prior budgets that a governor can request to use by notifying the House and Senate appropriations committees and then obtaining the funds from the Department of Treasury.

More than 77 percent of the administration requests did not disclose the actual dollar amount sought and is characterized as the “governor’s private surplus funds.”

Money that was disclosed included:

• $1,275 paid by the Department of Health to a catering company;

• $600,000 for subscriptions to publications for state agencies;

• $500,000 in membership dues for Wolf administration employees;

“During a budget impasse, spending should be kept to a bare minimum,” said State Rep. Russ Diamond (R-102).  “We’ve done so in the legislature, out of respect to the people of this Commonwealth.”

Diamond noted that domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, other social service agencies, and schools were grasping at straws to make cutbacks, obtain expensive loans, and even contemplating closing their doors..

The Pennsylvania Legislature passed a $30.179 billion budget on June 30 which was vetoed by Wolf. The budget  was a 3.6 increase over the previous year.

Wolf also has vetoed a stopgap budget that would have funded these schools and service agencies until other matters get resolved.

Wolf is insisting on a massive tax increase and is unwilling to compromise on issues which would slow the massive growth in the the state’s public spending such as pension reform and ending the prevailing wage mandate.

He is a selfish and short-sighted man.

Wolf Spends Sans Budget

 

Taxpayers Special Enough To Fight Tax Hike

Taxpayers Special Enough To Fight Tax Hike
Leo Knepper and Penn Delco school director Lisa Esler at tonight’s update regarding the Pennsylvania budget.

A packed house of about 70 was on hand, tonight, (Nov. 18) at the Newtown Square Knights of Columbus Hall to hear Leo Knepper give the latest regarding the various dramas occurring in Harrisburg in a talk before the Delaware County Patriots.

Knepper is executive director of Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, an organization founded to raise the standard of living of all Pennsylvanians and battle government corruption.

Knepper pointed out that the sales tax hike being pushed by Gov. Tom Wolf is a 21 percent increase and noted that there are plenty of places the budget could be cut to more than make up for the $2 billion the proposed tax hike from 6 percent to 7.25 percent would be expected to raise.

Knepper said that the state is spending $250 million for race horse development alone. He said that besides the General Fund the state has $18 billion tucked away in fat-filled special and other funds.

The special and other funds are the playgrounds of special interests he implied and are never considered for pruning.

“We need to get them moving from other special interests because the taxpayers are special enough,” Knepper said.

Knepper said money is still being doled out in Harrisburg with favored agencies getting lines of credit. He said this included Gov. Wolf’s travel expenses. He said Wolf was selecting services not to fund based on how much suffering they would inflict on the populace so they would agitate for a budget agreement.

Knepper noted that Wolf had vetoed stopgap budgets passed by the legislature.

Knepper also described how regulations unnecessarily raise the burden on taxpayers. He cited specifically the prevailing wage mandate, the state law that requires any significant public project to pay a wage set by the state Department of Labor and Industry’s Bureau of Labor Law Compliance.  Knepper described how one school district bidded out a project under prevailing wage and without out and found they would have shaved the cost by 40 percent but for the state law.

For Springfield residents, that means the approved $140 million new high school would cost just $80 million sans the burdensome law.

In other bad news, Knepper said that regarding Pennsylvania’s pension crisis the $50 billion officially claimed unfunded liability  regarding the Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System (SERS) and Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS) is actually $120 billion if normal accounting standards are used.

Among those collecting a public-guaranteed SERS pensions are Gary Schultz and his  pal Jerry Sandusky.  Schultz’s yearly pension is $330,699.  Yes, you working class person, you have to cover that.

Regarding the Syrians that Gov. Wolf is trying to bring in, Knepper said his group is researching the issue and that while they have not had time to come to any certain conclusion it appears that there is little a state can do to stop a federal resettlement program.

Agnes Trouillet was given an ovation at the meeting. Agnes is a Parisian who is teaching French at Penn and doing a paper on American Tea Party groups. While she didn’t know any of the victims of the Nov. 13 terrorist attack she had friends who did.

Taxpayers Special Enough To Fight Tax Hike

Sales Tax Hike Problem For Pa.

By Nathan Benefield Sales Tax Hike Problem For Pa.

After nearly five months of gridlock, a new state budget framework has been announced. The plan would raise the sales tax rate to the second-highest in the nation while promising property tax relief for homeowners in return.

At this point, it’s tempting to call any progress on budget agreement a victory, but is this tentative framework truly a “win” for Pennsylvanians?

Let’s start with the good: It appears taxpayers will be spared a personal income tax hike. A spike in utility bills caused by a new severance tax is also off the table. Additionally, Governor Wolf’s plan to expand the sales tax to 45 items like nursing homes, day care, funerals, and college textbooks has reportedly been dropped.

That’s great news, given Pennsylvanians already face the 10th-highest tax burden in the nation, but not everything is so rosy.

Under this budget plan, Pennsylvania would see the first sales tax hike in nearly 50 years and would have the second-highest rate in America. At 7.25 percent, the new rate would be 21 percent higher than the state’s current 6 percent rate.

It gets even worse for Pittsburgh residents who would pay a crushing 8.25 percent, and Philadelphia’s sales tax would spike to 9.25 percent. Delaware retailers, which benefit from no sales tax, should cheer, but business in the Keystone State would suffer.

The sales tax hike would collect about $2.1 billion more from consumers, while providing only $1.5 billion in property tax relief.

What about the leftover money? It will be used to replace $600 million in gambling funds formerly allocated to property tax relief that would now be redirected to additional spending.

Most homeowners would benefit from this tax shift, but businesses—which pay an estimated 40 percent of all sales taxes—and renters would lose. They would pay the higher sales tax but see no reduction in property taxes or rents under the current proposal.

In one sense, progress has been made. Wolf’s initial budget proposal in March called for the largest tax increase in the nation, costing an astonishing $1,400 per Pennsylvania family of four. While this sales tax is far lower, taxpayers should be asking what they’ll get in return for any increase.

Much is still being worked out behind the scenes, and there’s still an opportunity to act on crucial issues like pension reform, liquor privatization, and corporate welfare reform.

First, true liquor privatization—allowing private retailers to sell wine and spirits and ending the government monopoly over distribution—must be part of any deal. This would give consumers greater selection and convenience, generate recurring revenue, and end the state’s conflict of interest as both alcohol salesman and liquor law enforcer.

Though Wolf vetoed privatization this summer, Pennsylvanians still strongly support the measure because it makes fiscal sense and common sense.

In any serious discussion of property tax relief, lawmakers must first address the primary cause of property tax increases: unsustainable public pension costs. Only by moving to a defined-contribution plan, like a 401(k), will we stop the bleeding and end the political manipulation that created a $53 billion unfunded pension debt.

Moreover, any property tax shift should include strict controls over future school tax increases. Pennsylvania ranks near the top on education spending, while residents face some of the highest property taxes. To give taxpayers more control, lawmakers should give voters the chance to approve any school tax increase—a right residents of other states, like our neighbors in Ohio, already have.

For anyone looking to cut budget waste, this one’s hard to miss: Pennsylvania hands out nearly $700 million in corporate welfare subsidies through grant and loan programs. These subsidies provide businesses an unfair advantage at taxpayer expense and should be eliminated.

Finally, any budget agreement should include a long-term pledge that government will not recklessly overspend our hard-earned dollars. The Taxpayer Protection Act, supported by 64 percent of Pennsylvania voters according to a recent poll, would limit spending growth to the rate of inflation plus population growth.

Pennsylvanians need a state budget, but they don’t want promises of relief that hide higher taxes.  Before we ask taxpayers for more, the governor and lawmakers should ensure tax dollars are spent well. True reforms that will set our state—and our families—on the path toward lasting prosperity should be part of any budget deal.

Nathan A. Benefield is vice president of policy analysis for the Commonwealth Foundation

Sales Tax Hike Problem For Pa.

Wagner Explains Budget

Wagner Explains BudgetBy State Sen. Scott Wagner

A week ago (Nov. 3) voters across Pennsylvania elected three new Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices to the PA State Supreme Court.

The three new Justices elected were all Democrats – many parties consider this a blow to the Republican Party – Philly.com reported that as much as $16 million was spent on this race.

In reality, the Democrats raised approximately three quarters of the $16 million – the majority of the money the Democrats raised came from unions and trail lawyers – the Republican candidates were outspent four to one – the Democrats resorted to many negative and inaccurate ads about the Republican candidates.

The PA State Supreme Court is now five Democrats and two Republicans.

This week is a new week – it is time to move on.

I would offer this advice to the new Justices – you can either choose to be a mediocre Judge or be a great Judge.

To be a great Judge will require you to not be influenced by unions and special interests – history, your actions and decisions will judge you.

The election also added a 31st Senator to the Pennsylvania  Senate – Republican Guy Reschenthaler won a seat representing the 37th Senate District (Pittsburgh Area).

The  State Senate is now 31 Republicans and 19 Democrats.

When the  State Senate reaches 34 Republicans we will have veto over-ride power over the Governor – I predict that will occur with the 2016 elections.

The Republican Party is strong in the Pennsylvania House and Senate – Republicans continue to gain seats in both chambers.

Second Subject:

On Oct. 19 The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled “Washington’s Revenue Windfall.”

An op-ed could be written about Pennsylvania that would be identical to the Washington article.

It boils down to this  –  “Give government more money and we can be guaranteed they WILL spend more money.”

I continue to pound on the table that “Harrisburg does not have a revenue problem – it has a spending problem.”

I serve on the  Senate Appropriations Committee – as a member I am supplied massive amounts of financial information.

The two most important lines on this report – Sales and Use Tax, and Personal Income Tax tell the revenue story.

The General Fund Summary shows that the 2013-14 year had $28.6 billion  received – from 2013-14 to 2019-20 (estimated) each year has $1 billion  or more being added in revenue.

Personal income taxes and sales taxes continue to grow each and every year.

What does this mean?

It means wages are going UP, so people are paying more income taxes – last month at one of my companies we purchased a new Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck – the final price was $43,000 – sales tax of 6 percent was assessed ($2,580), I went back to 2005 at the same company and pulled the invoice for the same model truck purchased in 2005 for $29,000 and sales tax paid was $1,740.

The price of the truck purchased in 2005 went up 50 percent over a 10 year period and the sales tax went up almost 50 percent over 10 years – the sales tax increase is approximately 5 percent per year – the rate of inflation from 2005 to 2015  was anywhere from 1 percent to 2.5 percent per year – in fact, the 2008 year had negative inflation.

It is important to note that Harrisburg has a number of expenses that are eating money like a monster – pensions and healthcare – currently there is no end in sight – below is an expense summary.

Harrisburg only understands two words – “more money” – not the same – not less, but always “more money.”

Governor Wolf has not presented one single idea or initiative to reduce waste or spending.

It is time to have a financial day of reckoning in Pennsylvania – we need a Governor who has the guts and backbone to put Harrisburg on a serious diet – Tom Wolf is not the man for the job.

I have been meeting with and having conversations with non-profit leaders over the last several weeks – they are running out of money, many are on their lines of credit.

The general fund budget for the 2014-15 year was $29.1 billion.

The budget presented to Governor Wolf by the Republican House and Senate for the 2015-16 year was for $30.1 billion , an increase of $1  billion.

Governor Wolf wanted a budget passed of $33.5 billion, an increase of $4.5 billion.

The $1 billion increase over last year’s budget is an increase of 3.5 percernt – the current rate of inflation is almost flat.

Here is another fact – From July 1 until Oct.  31, the state has collected $8.9 billion  in various taxes, and this money is sitting in the state’s bank account earning virtually zero interest.

As a result of the budget impasse, entities across Pennsylvania are forced to borrow money, which may be approximately $2 billion  as of Oct. 31.

The monthly interest cost to borrow $2 billion  is approximately $6 million  per month borrowing at the prime rate of 3.5 percent.

I have been a private sector business owner for over 35 years, so I consider my experience in finances to be strong.

The budget impasse and the pain that everyone is feeling is because of one person’s ego, and that is Governor Wolf.

I voted for a responsible budget on June 30  – to be clear I will not be voting for any tax increases – it is time for accountability for the money we already send to Harrisburg.

Sen. Wagner represents the 28th District.

Ed note: Yesterday, Nov. 10, State Rep. Mike Vereb posted this on Facebook:

So by now you have heard there is framework agreed to on the budget. I caution that framework means the parties agree on major issues but the next 72 hours are important to keep it together. I myself am not committing either way and will await more details. So far we know they want to increase the sales tax to 7.25 from 6 on items already taxed. They also want to add to the cigarette tax as well as tax e cigarettes and hand rolled cigarettes. In exchange there is also framework on pensions and property tax relief (not elimination which I favor and apparently liquor modernization. That’s what I know tonight. More details to follow. Because of house and senate rules, if a bill was ready to go tonight, it will still take two weeks to get it to the governor. As of right now I favor overriding the Govs veto if the democrats would come on board. But again when more details become available I will let you know.

 

Wagner Explains Budget

Wolf Delco Rally Dem Fiasco As Budget Becomes Issue

Wolf Delco Rally Dem Fiasco As Budget Becomes IssueGov. Tom Wolf this Halloween afternoon came to Media, Pa. to try to get a Philly union boss’ brother elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court but was instead met with a crowd demanding he  “sign the budget” and “give us books.”

The Democrat rally held on Veterans Square was probably more than half Wolf opponents. At least 100 persons attended.

One protester from Saint Dorthy’s School in Drexel Hill noted that the children have no textbooks and teachers are mimeographing lessons.

Penn Delco School Director Lisa Esler expressed anger and disgust with the governor’s political actions.

“I don’t think it’s fair  or even ethical for state law to require a school district to pass a budget on time, collect our money and then hold the money hostage,” she said.

That’s what your ego has wrought Governor.

The state legislature passed $30.179 billion budget on June 30 that was a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year and would have increased education spending by $100 million.

Wolf Delco Rally Dem Fiasco As Budget Becomes Issue
Little children plead for Gov. Tom Wolf to set his ego aside and get them school books.

Wolf vetoed it.

He also rejected a recent proposal to increase education spending by $400 million if he agrees to liquor privatization and pension reform.

He also has refused to use line-item veto power to make changes that he doesn’t want and, most tellingly, arrogantly refused to sign temporary spending measures.

Wherever one stands on the political spectrum one must be ashamed of this governor and his ego-driven agenda.

Attending the rally with Wolf and those seeking local office were the Dem Supreme Court ticket and U.S. Senator Bob Casey Jr. significantly adding to the embarrassment.

It should be noted that Wolf was the only speaker that got significant grief from the crowd.

Wolf Delco Rally Dem Fiasco As Budget Becomes Issue

 

House Rejects Wolf Tax Plan

House Rejects Wolf Tax Plan
Shame on you Governor Wolf for your irresponsibility and intransigence.

The Pennsylvania House this afternoon, Oct. 7, voted down Gov. Wolf proposed tax hike, 127-73.

No Republican supported the bill and nine Democrats — Frank Burns (72nd), Jaret Gibbons (10th),  Ted Harhai (58th)  (Nick Kotik (45th), Tim Mahoney (51st), Robert Matzie (16th), Joseph Patrarca (55th), Chris Sainato (9th),  and Pam Snyder (50th) — also voted nay.

Harhai was not recorded as a nay on the first release of the roll call.

Gov. Wolf sought to raise the state income tax 16 percent.

He also sought to impose a natural gas drilling tax of  3.5 percent, plus 4.7 cents per thousand cubic feet. This would be on top of the existing  impact fee which brings in about $220 million per year in revenue.

The state legislature passed 30.179 billion budget on June 30 that was a 3.6 percent increase over the previous year and would have increased education spending by $100 million.

Wolf vetoed it.

He also rejected a recent proposal to increase education spending by $400 million if he agrees to liquor privatization and pension reform.

In the meantime, due to the Governor’s ego and intransigence, schools and social services are not getting necessary funds.

Shame on you Gov. Wolf.

House Rejects Wolf Tax Plan