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Friday, March 19, 2010

Pa. Senate Democrats talk taxes and budget

Earlier today, several top Democrats in the Pennsylvania Senate said they wanted swift action on the state budget. In a meeting with the Daily News editorial board, lawmakers laid out the basic principals their caucus plans to follow over the next few months.

“First and foremost, we have to do everything in our power to make certain we have a budget on time,” said Sen. Jay Costa, who is the minority chair of the power Appropriations Committee. “That's our number one priority.”

Last year, the big issue that kept the budget from being passed on time was a debate between Gov. Rendell and the legislature over increasing taxes. Costa made clear that many in his caucus will oppose some of the revenue measures offered by Gov. Rendell in this year's budget.

“We don't believe it's appropriate this year to do a broad based tax increase,” said Costa. “We've adopted a couple principals that we share with our colleauges. One, we want to limit our spending as much as possible, given the constraints we have. Secondly, we shy away from any broad-based tax increase.”

However, Senate Democrats do have their own ways to raise revenue. Sen. Christine M. Tartaglione wants to target corporations that exploit tax loopholes that allow them to incorporate in Delaware.

“There's about 70 percent of our corporations in Pennsylvania don't pay taxes,” said Tartaglone. “Right now, you can go to Delaware and you walk into a room and there could be 400 PO box numbers which service corporations. We'd like to close [the loophole] toally, just like New Jersey and Maryland. They can't hide the money anymore.”

Despite these ambitious, there are signs the state budget might get held up again. There is bound to be another contentious debate over the gas extraction tax, as well as other revenue raising measures.

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Posted by Ben Waxman @ 5:00 PM  Permalink | 1 comment
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:15 AM, 03/22/2010
    Well do it Tina. Close the loopholes.
    — FJG JR


1 comments
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