Rader Frustrated with Gov. Wolf’s Latest Tax Plan, Wants Real Property Tax Relief
HARRISBURG - Rep. Jack Rader (R-Monroe) issued the following statement after the House failed to pass Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest tax plan. Today’s proposal included an increase in the Personal Income Tax accompanied by an additional Marcellus Shale severance tax. Substantive property tax relief was not included in this bill.
“Property tax relief is the No. 1 concern of people in my district. I cannot support a budget that has substantial tax increases without addressing these concerns. Pairing the lack of property tax relief with a Personal Income Tax increase is particularly problematic for both working families and small businesses. The Personal Income Tax increase would be crippling to small businesses, which would see their taxes also increased by 16 percent. With more than 225,000 small businesses in our Commonwealth, we must support their growth. The governor’s taxes would hinder such small business growth.
“Further, it must be pointed out that the natural gas industry is already paying an impact fee, which is a tax on the industry. While I support a reasonable severance tax, the impact fee already raises over $200 million per year. We do not want to drive this important industry out of our state.
“My House Republican colleagues and I passed a budget in June that raised education spending by $100 million and raised human service spending without raising taxes. It is frustrating to find ourselves in a situation where we are now in our fourth month of this budget impasse and Gov. Wolf has still failed to hear the perspective of middle-class Pennsylvanians. My hope is that we can move forward and negotiate an honest budget in a timely manner. Many of our schools and human service agencies simply cannot afford to wait for a budget any longer.”
The governor’s most recent tax plan, which failed by a 73-127 vote, would have increased the Personal Income Tax to 3.57 percent from 3.07 percent. The Marcellus Shale tax, had it passed as part of the plan, would have made Pennsylvania’s taxes on the natural gas industry the highest in the nation. Nearly 95 percent of the governor’s proposed tax increases would have fallen on families, and 5 percent would have been passed on to the natural gas industry.
Representative Jack Rader
176th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Morgan Dux
717.260.6695
mdux@pahousegop.com
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