In his annual budget address, Governor Tom Wolf once again proposes a focus on improving and increasing the availability of education.
“In this year’s budget, I’m proposing another major step forward; a significant investment in career and technical education to help make Pennsylvania a better place to learn, a better place to work, and a better place to do business.”
This budget is about $33 billion which is about $1 billion more than the current year’s budget.
Wolf is not asking for a broad based tax increase to pay for those plans but he is asking the legislature to enact a severance tax on industries that extract natural gas resources from Pennsylvania. According to Wolf, every other gas-producing state has a severance tax but so far state legislators have been hesitant to pass one here.
“Today I’m not just asking you, but challenging you to do the right thing. Pass a severance tax this year so that we can keep making investments that will grow our economy, keep making progress on the issues that Pennsylvanians care about and keep writing the proud story of a brighter future for Pennsylvania.”
Local Republican Representative Tedd Nesbit responded that he is optimistic that the budget process will be “far smoother and less contentious” than in previous years. Representative Brian Ellis said that the House Republican Caucus is “not intending to consider new revenues with this budget.”
Written by Ryan Saeler
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