Where Wolf is leading Pa.

By Patrick M. Gleason

For a sense of where the Tom Wolf governing model will lead Pennsylvania, look north to Connecticut, where high taxes and politicians who are hostile to business have just driven away one of the most storied companies in American history.

General Electric recently announced that it will move its headquarters from Fairfield, Conn., to Boston. GE's departure and the job losses the state will sustain as a result were entirely avoidable. The move is directly attributable to Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy and Connecticut lawmakers' sustained antipathy to business and industry.

Connecticut has the nation's second-highest tax burden. Despite that, Malloy, the current chair of the Democratic Governors Association, approved the highest tax increase in Connecticut history as part of his first budget in 2011. When the governor looked to include another large tax increase in the current year's budget, vital employers urged him to reconsider. In fact, GE gave a clear warning last year that if Malloy signed off on another tax hike, the company would consider leaving the state.

The governor dismissed the warnings and discarded his reelection campaign promise to avoid further tax increases when he signed a $1.2 billion tax hike into law last summer. Now GE is leaving the state and taking with it high-paying jobs that can actually support families, unlike the minimum-wage jobs Govs. Wolf and Malloy promote.

It should concern those who care about Pennsylvania's economic health that the Malloy tax hike that drove GE out of the Nutmeg State is dwarfed by the $4.6 billion in higher taxes that Wolf has been demanding from individuals, families, and employers across Pennsylvania for the past year. In fact, Wolf proposed more in tax hikes last year than every other governor in the country combined.

Legislators are wise to block Wolf's cash grab, as it will only put Pennsylvania at a greater disadvantage when it comes to competing with other states for jobs and investment. Pennsylvania is already held back by the nation's second-highest corporate tax, the 15th-highest overall tax burden, and the lack of a right-to-work law that frees workers from being forced to join a union as a condition of employment.

While Wolf is pushing for the largest tax hike in the nation, other states that are already more attractive places to do business are busy enacting policy reforms to give themselves even greater advantages.

Consider Texas, a state that already has a much more attractive business-tax climate than Pennsylvania. Lone Star State lawmakers increased Texas' advantage over the Keystone State by enacting $4 billion in further tax relief for businesses and property owners last year.

Recently, Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who has provided his constituents with more than $2.6 billion in tax relief since taking office, praised Wolf for helping drive people and businesses from Pennsylvania to Florida.

In North Carolina, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and state legislators have positioned the Tar Heel State to blow Pennsylvania away in the competition for new business, investment, and residents by significantly reducing and flattening personal and corporate income tax rates.

North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and other economically successful states are cutting taxes, enacting regulatory reforms, giving workers the freedom to decide whether to join a union, and giving parents more options for providing a better education for their children. Compared with where Wolf wants to take Pennsylvania, these successful states are moving in the opposite direction.

The only thing stopping Pennsylvania's business-tax climate from going the way of Connecticut and Illinois is for Republican legislators to remain united in opposition to Wolf. It's not often that one will hear or read such advice, but there is much that Pennsylvania Republicans can learn from California right now.

The Democrats who control the California Legislature sought billions in higher taxes last year. Republicans hold just over a third of the seats in the Legislature, but thanks to California's law requiring that tax increases be passed with a two-thirds majority, Republicans can block bills that raise taxes. A unified Republican caucus is the only thing stopping the tax floodgates from opening in California. To their credit, California Republicans have stuck together, saving heavily burdened California taxpayers from seeing more of their income funneled to Sacramento.

Republican legislators can protect Pennsylvania taxpayers by taking a page from the playbook of their counterparts in the Golden State. The Pennsylvania economy doesn't need fewer jobs or income-slashing tax increases imposed by Harrisburg.

Patrick Gleason is director of state affairs at Americans for Tax Reform. pgleason@atr.org