DN editorial: Adopt GOP budget to begin fixing state's finances

WHAT WOULD happen if your wages rose 2 percent a year, while your expenses increased by 4 to 5 percent?

No need to get out your calculator. Common sense tells you that eventually you would sink into debt. There might be temporary steps you could make - say, emptying your savings account - but once that money is spent, it is gone. The reality is that sooner or later, without increasing your income or cutting spending, you will be in serious financial difficulty.

In Pennsylvania, sooner is about to meet later.

The state has been spending more than it raises in taxes for a half-dozen years. And the projection by the state's Independent Fiscal Office is that the spread is going to get worse.

The IFO, an independent monitor of state finances, estimates the state will end the current fiscal year with a $300 million deficit. And a $1.6 billion deficit next year, increasing each year until it reaches $2.6 billion in 2020.

The reality is inescapable - unless you are a Republican lawmaker, in breathtaking denial of the facts.

Republicans, who control the Legislature, have been in nearly a yearlong standoff with Democratic Gov. Wolf over the state budget. Wolf wants to raise revenue by increasing taxes, the Republican do not.

A compromise that did some budget cutting and called for new taxes fell apart in December, mostly because the House Republican leadership, led by Speaker Mike Turzai, walked away from the deal.

Then Turzai and his fellow Republicans passed a new version of the budget that totaled about $30 billion. To make it look balanced, the Republicans tried the same old tricks. For instance, this budget increases state aid to education by $50 million, by removing $40 million from the budget of the PHEAA, the state's college scholarship program.

The budget is now on Wolf's desk. He must decide whether to veto it, veto it in part, or simply let it become law without his signature. This week, at the request of legislative Democrats, the governor decided to hold up on any action on the bill to give Democratic leaders time to consult with their members.

Rank-and-file legislators of both parties are feeling the heat because their local school districts and governments are hurting. Some school districts say they will have to close early without their state aid.

We have consistently supported Wolf's objectives of getting the state's financial house in order and increasing state aid to public education. We've urged Democrats to stay united behind their governor and not buckle under pressure to accept Republican versions of the budget.

But, at this point, we have to ask: Why not let the Republican budget become law? For starters, it will free money held by the state, so it can again flow to local governments and schools.

The short-term crisis will be resolved. Of course, Republicans will brag that they forced their will on the governor and maintained their no-new-tax pledge. But, so what?

Passing this budget will do nothing - zero, zilch - about the $1.6 billion deficit looming next year. That is too big to paper over with gimmicks.

Get this budget past us and move to build a compromise around the budget for next year. One that faces reality, raises the necessary revenue, and eliminates the deficit.