Here in Pennsylvania we have an interesting situation: a newly-elected liberal Democrat governor and
a more conservative Republican-dominated legislature.
Make no mistake – this has become a solid blue Democrat
state in recent years. However, outside
of the two major metros anchoring the eastern and western parts of the state,
the rest of the state is pretty conservative.
Democrat strategist James Carville once derided Pennsylvania as
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Appalachia in between.
The “in between” often votes in Republicans as state
legislators; the big cities and many of their suburbs reliably vote in Democrats.
In statewide and national elections the density of votes cast
in the Philly and Pittsburgh metros – legal or bogus – increasingly outweighs
the rest of the state. Sometimes the votes from these areas exceed the number
of registered voters on the books but no matter.
Voting in other parts may be different but in
Philly inhabitants of vacant lots and cemeteries routinely cast ballots, and overwhelmingly
for Democrats. If you’re a Democrat and die
here you want to be buried in Philly; that way you can remain politically
active for years to come.
But back to our current situation.
Our new governor wants to hike taxes to pay for his campaign
promises of more spending on education (read: bailing out the Philly schools);
expanding social programs even more (read: more free stuff), repairing
infrastructure (read: union jobs); and pumping more into state pensions (read: paying
off public sector employees). Oh, and he
also promised to reduce property taxes.
He’s a typical tax and spend liberal. Practically everything he’s proposed is
targeted to reward unions, public sector employees, fiscally mismanaged cities
and townships, top-heavy failing school systems, and people who would rather
vote for a living than work for a living.
To pay for all this, he wants a 5% severance tax on natural
gas and oil drilling, a hike of another buck on every pack of cigarettes, an increase
in the personal income tax from 3.07% to 3.7%, and an increase in the 6% state
sales tax to 6.6% for every place outside of Philly and Pittsburgh (Philly and Pittsburgh already have higher sales taxes) while also including more things – like professional services –
subject to the sales tax. Republicans in the legislature have balked.
Consequently we haven’t had a state budget for months.
Republicans wanted to privatize the state-store system and get
out of the liquor business – an extremely popular idea among just about everybody except the union
that represents the state store workers.
Republicans also wanted to reform our out-of-control public sector
pension program. They also wanted to prevent a severance tax on oil and gas
drilling – one of the few growth industries for the state.
So here we are. The
governor has vetoed all the Republican plans.
The Republicans have rejected all the governor’s plans.
But now there’s a breakthrough. The governor is putting
aside the severance tax and the
Republicans have tentatively agreed to increase the state sales tax to 7.25%.
Wait a minute. The
governor was asking for a sales tax increase to 6.6%. Yet the Republicans agreed to a sales tax of 7.25%? And that’s a good deal?
They are still negotiating, so nothing’s final. But this alone should give
you some idea of how blue-state economics work. Once the posturing is done, our taxes still go up.
We’re all screwed. At
least, all of us who still work for a living.
And in a blue state, that number gets smaller and smaller
all the time.
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