It’s a presidential election year, with voters riveted on national politics and issues.
Inflation — caused by federal deficit spending — and immigration consistently poll as the top issues on the electorate’s minds. Meanwhile, pundits provide detailed analysis of what former President Donald Trump meant by “bloodbath” and whether President Joe Biden’s claim that he rode Amtrak over a bridge that never had train tracks is a sign of dementia.
Washington, D.C., of course, merits our vigilance. However, Pennsylvania voters must also watch Harrisburg closely, as state lawmakers have introduced and advanced extreme, harmful policy ideas and tax hikes.
In March, the Democratic-controlled Pennsylvania House passed legislation to send another $280 million yearly to mass transit systems in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, raising the total annual transfer to $1.5 billion.
This bill diverts revenue from what the tax code calls the “Tax for Education.” Originally created to fund public education, the Tax for Education is the six percent state sales tax consumers pay across the commonwealth.
Ironically, many House Democrats argued last year that $100 million for Lifeline Scholarships for Pennsylvania’s low-income students would “bankrupt public schools.” Yet, this House vote would bankroll failing bureaucracies and empty buses with funds from the Tax for Education to the yearly tune of $1.5 billion. Talk about hypocrisy.
Pennsylvania mass transit agencies are already among the most reliant on state taxpayers and least reliant on riders paying fares and on local government contributions. Even with continued increases in state spending, mass transit ridership has constantly declined, nearly 40 percent since 2019, due, in part, to the lack of safety.
Instead of market-based reforms, progressive lawmakers demand that rural taxpayers pay more for the transit they don’t use, diverting billions away from public education funding.
Unfortunately, that’s not the only extreme, anti-school-choice legislation pushed by House Democrats and their teacher union supporters.
House Bill (HB) 2063, a radical plan sponsored by Rep. Joe Ciresi, would take away scholarships for tens of thousands of Pennsylvania K–12 students. This legislation would undermine the recent expansions — signed and supported by Gov. Josh Shapiro — of Pennsylvania’s successful tax credit scholarship programs, which served 77,670 students in the 2021–22 school year.
Additionally, HB 2063 would impose onerous new reporting requirements regulations on nearly every private school in the state while empowering unaccountable bureaucrats to impose new regulations without legislative input.
Thanks to public outcry from parents, schools, and scholarship providers about the tremendous harm to students, lawmakers tabled this destructive legislation — for now.
Also on voters’ watch list: Shapiro’s $48.3 billion 2024–25 budget and his misleading insistence it won’t raise taxes, alongside extreme proposals floating around Harrisburg to hike taxes on electricity, workers, and small businesses.
One proposal, HB 181, would impose a $4.3 billion payroll tax (the largest tax increase in Pennsylvania’s history), taking money directly from every worker’s paycheck to fund a government-run paid leave program. The same agency, the Department of Labor and Industry, that bungles unemployment compensation and doesn’t answer its phones would run this duplicative government program.
Perhaps realizing the program’s cost and unpopularity (only about a third of voters support this idea), lawmakers have stalled the bill, but the threat remains.
An even more radical tax idea, backed by a government union front group, would quadruple the state income tax on small businesses and investment earnings. Small business owners are rightfully alarmed about the economic disaster this bill would create.
Finally, Shapiro proposed an energy tax that would drive up electricity prices for families and businesses, eliminate jobs, and threaten grid reliability and blackouts — all while doing nothing to “address climate change.”
As Pennsylvania has become a leading energy producer and the number-one state for exporting electricity (increasing production while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions), Shapiro’s taxes and mandates would move us disastrously in the wrong direction.
Absurdly, Shapiro’s plan would undermine electricity production in Pennsylvania, while radical lawmakers seek to force more electricity use with an initiative to ban gas-powered lawn mowers.
Pennsylvanians can’t let presidential campaigns and developments distract from watching — and pushing back on — an extreme state-level agenda that threatens their pocketbooks and livelihoods.
Nathan Benefield is the Senior Vice President of the Commonwealth Foundation, Pennsylvania’s free-market think tank.
Ridership on public transit has decreased by 40% due to safety??!! You do remember that was the same time Covid forced employers to let employees work remotely and now many of those same companies are allowing people to work on remote or hybrid schedules.
Philadelphia, Scranton, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Allentown generate 75% of the revenue in Pennsylvania, not rural Pennsylvania. So almost all of the money for public transit comes from those cities that rely on public transportation. Along with funding most of the needs for rural Pennsylvania.
As for the rest of it, they are proposed bills that may or may not be passed and signed into law. Which is nothing more than alarmist propaganda on your part.
Ridership did decrease significantly from Covid, but it has stayed down because people do not go into Lhiladelphia – or ride SEPTA and other public transportation – because of crime. The other issue is people not wanting to spend money because of rising costs, so they aren’t going into the cities to spend money. Philadelphia, more than most cities, is dependent on people coming from suburbs to spend within city limits.
Also, democrats have all sorts of dumb legislation that is going to fall on Republicans to stop in the Senate.
It’s kinda silly to say just ignore all their dumb and hurtful legislation because it won’t get passed. They are legislators. And although democrats love to elect people who can’t speak English or spell beyond a kindergarten level, maybe you could appreciate the lack of professionalism, integrity, maturity, and intelligence coming from the majority in the PA House?
“In your opinion”, fixed it for you.
Of course it’s my opinion. I’m stating it. You would have just made it redundant.
Have some guts to stand up to terrible leadership. We have a lack of it everywhere across party lines.
I am standing up to terrible leadership, specifically Trump and his cult followers. Remember how they tried to overturn the election by trying to get elected officials to overturn votes, fake electors, 60 lawsuits, lies about voter fraud, and when that didn’t work they tried to prevent the peaceful process of an election by storming the Capital Building. Assaulting police officers in the process.
When people do not want to debate issues, they pivot from those issues by personally attacking… people.
Instead of discussing the issues, their criticism is directed toward the opponent’s character… which is irrelevant to the discussion of actual issues. Hence, we have endless legacy media reports about Trump in court in NY. Democrats, and their RINO partners, rely on this tactic to avoid debating actual issues because they will lose if they have to defend their lazy stances.
When Democrats and Republicans work together to benefit everyone it is call compromise. The Maga cultists are the ones who want to burn everything down with proposing any real solutions.
“When people do not want to debate issues, they pivot from those issues by personally attacking… people.”……”Hence, we have endless legacy media reports about Trump in court in NY. Democrats, and their RINO partners, rely on this tactic to avoid debating actual issues because they will lose if they have to defend their lazy stances.”
Congratulations on proving your point by engaging in a personal attack.
Judah,
You used the word “revenue”, but I think you meant “taxes.” You used the word “Covid”, but I think you meant people. People forced employers to let employees work remotely. And that caused long term changes in their behaviors – both good and bad. Personally, I do not travel by train anymore because the risk (to my safety) is not worth the reward. If you do get mugged and defend yourself, then you might be facing charges. So, I take my off-road ATV into Philadelphia instead.
The U.S. caused the war in Ukraine. BOTH France and Germany did not want to provoke Russia by trying to have Ukraine join NATO. The U.S. insisted on it. Was it worth it? Maybe. The U.S. is certainly benefiting (weapons sales) and getting training on new warfare tactics (drones, etc.) We could have an honest conversation about it all and debate actual issues. Should we send 70 billion to our weapons manufacturers, and another 10 billion or so for pension payments of Ukrainian officials, or could we use all that money to help the poorest in our cities with trade schools? We don’t have those honest discussions. Our legacy media, which is controlled by U.S. intelligence agencies, would rather we focus on a NY trial against a former President for a misdemeanor.
Covid forced employers to let employees work remotely and it was Trump, not “people” that ordered a lockdown during Covid.
“Personally, I do not travel by train anymore because the risk (to my safety) is not worth the reward.” That is your opinion and it does not represent reality.
“The U.S. caused the war in Ukraine.” No Russia caused the war when it invaded under the pretext of denazifying Ukraine, not because of the U.S.
“Our legacy media, which is controlled by U.S. intelligence agencies” – You are a off the rail conspiracy theorist who has no basis in reality.
Covid forced employers to let employees work remotely and it was Trump, not “people” that ordered a lockdown during Covid.
“Personally, I do not travel by train anymore because the risk (to my safety) is not worth the reward.” That is your opinion and it does not represent reality.
“The U.S. caused the war in Ukraine.” No Russia caused the war when it invaded under the pretext of denazifying Ukraine, not because of the U.S.
“Our legacy media, which is controlled by U.S. intelligence agencies” – You are a off the rail conspiracy theorist who has no basis in reality.
Judah… an anglicized version of the Hebrew boy name Yehuda (or Yehudah). Its first recorded appearance is in the Hebrew Bible. This name refers to Judah, son of the patriarch Jacob, in the Book of Genesis. It is a good name. Hopefully you are not a bot and you use your actual name. If so, I salute you.
People made decisions and policy. Covid did not make policy. I agree with you that Trump mismanaged his response and reaction to the deep state and “Covid.” I do not like Trump. And I will still vote for Trump even if he is dead.