Republican state Senate candidate Steve McDonald, reacting to Gov. Ed Rendell’s budget proposal this afternoon, called on the Legislature to reject the $1.1 billion spending increase and two related tax hikes and instead cut corporate and personal income taxes. “Taxpayers in the 13th District are sick and tired of a state government that keeps spending and taxing while becoming more bureaucratic and inefficient,” McDonald said in a prepared statement e-mailed to the media. “The Governor is using higher spending and taxes as an excuse to stimulate the economy, but in reality, these ’solutions’ only stimulate government.”
McDonald added that “the Legislature must address spending. The Commonwealth Foundation has identified $4 billion in unnecessary state spending. This is $4 billion that could be in taxpayers’ pockets, rather than the State Treasury. The Legislature should pass an across-the-board spending cut of 5%. When Harrisburg stops funding its spending increases on the backs of families and job-creating businesses, the people of Pennsylvania will see a real economic stimulus.”
Rendell’s budget includes a dime-a-pack cigarette levy — and a new tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco — to help pay for a plan introduced last year to extend health benefits to 760,000 uninsured adults. “It should shock the conscience of all of us and every Pennsylvanian to know that nearly 800,000 of our fellow citizens lack health insurance,” Rendell said in his budget address to the Legislature. “They pay a terrible price, but we do, too, because when they arrive at a hospital emergency room in need of treatment for which they cannot pay, we all pay the bill.”
The Democratic governor wants to borrow $600 million over three years to rebuild bridges and is asking to increase the state’s debt limit by $750 million for civic development projects, which would mark the fourth time the debt ceiling has been lifted since he took office in 2003, The Associated Press reports.
From Rep. John Bear, a Lititz Republican: “Today, the governor laid out a budget plan that includes a significant spending increase over this year’s budget, millions in new taxes and billions in borrowing. In addition, he wants to raid the Rainy Day Fund in order to finance tax breaks for low-income families while working middle-class families are left out in the cold. All told, the governor’s proposed budget equates to $1.65 billion in new spending, a 6.1 percent increase over the current year. I believe government must live within its means. I do not believe we should ask the taxpayers to finance more and more spending and billions of dollars in borrowing. When the General Assembly takes up the governor’s proposal, we should carefully examine whether the governor’s spending plans and tax increases are worth the cost to Pennsylvania’s families.”
State Sen. Mike Folmer, who represents a small section of northern Lancaster County, said in statement: “I am disappointed that Gov. Rendell has chosen to seek another budget with higher taxes, higher spending, and more borrowing. With a warning light blinking on the dashboard of our nation’s economy, with a rise in inflation and unemployment over the horizon, with Pennsylvanians’ disposable income shrinking, we need to rein in spending and provide real tax relief to spur the economy and help people make ends meet. Our goal this year should be a zero spending growth budget, with a ceiling on new spending equal to that prescribed in the Taxpayer Protection Act, of 3.29 percent. Otherwise, we risk creating more ‘forgotten people’ – those who pay their bills, worry about their jobs, and put food on the table for their families. These are the people who simply cannot continue to afford high taxes to pay for increased government spending and borrowing.”
