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HARRISBURG, June 30 – The Pennsylvania General Assembly today passed and sent to the governor a $28 billion General Fund budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Phila., supported passage of the fiscally conservative budget and released this statement:
"This budget is bare bones with a less-than-1-percent spending increase compared to the current year and it contains no broad-based tax increases," she said. "In spite of another difficult budget year, we were able to maintain our commitment to the Commonwealth's children by increasing basic education funding by $250 million over this year, which will help ensure that our children continue to receive a quality education. The Philadelphia school district will receive an additional $64 million for basic education.
"The reality is that Pennsylvania continues to experience a fiscal crisis like the rest of the country, and the agreed-to budget, while minimizing the hardship, includes necessary cuts to balance the budget, because the appetite just wasn't there to raise taxes. In spite of my support and a handful of like-minded others, there weren't enough votes to support it.
"Personally, I've always subscribed to the beliefs of Franklin Roosevelt, President Obama and most economists that when in a depression, one must raise taxes and increase government spending. We need to do more of both in Pennsylvania, in the United States and in the world, or face years of grinding poverty and increasing unemployment. It is precisely during such economic adversity that social services and programs should be funded at the higher levels required to help those who need them the most.
"However, that cannot be done here without new revenue sources. Increasing the Personal Income Tax faced strident opposition, as did taxing cigars and other tobacco products, and closing the Delaware loophole that favors big business. All of these are potential revenue sources we should have considered tapping into.
"Happily, the severance of natural gas drilled from the Marcellus Shale deposit will be part of the overall package as the Senate has agreed to move it by October. I thought this should have been addressed earlier this year, but certainly this concession by Senate Republicans is a positive step. I look forward to working for a tax that enhances environmental protections of unique and indispensible public forests and helps local governments deal with the many serious negative effects of natural gas drilling."
© 2006 - 2007 State Representative Babette Josephs. All Rights Reserved. 215-893-1515 | 717-787-8529