A budget, finally

So Pennsylvania has finally passed it's budget. The last State in the Union to pass one, we are finally done. Thank you Rendell for fucking it all up.

Rendell, a big city liberal from Philadelphia, had ambitious plans for Pennsylvania. Tax increases, funding for all day Kindergarten, slots at racetracks.

To try and get all that done, he passed his budget in two parts. His first part was a balanced budget that slashed programs like Meals on Wheels, Drug and Alcohol counseling by, in some cases, 90%. He intended to come to the rescue a few weeks later with massive tax hikes and the like.

He underestimated what he probably thought were backwoods representatives who quickly moved to pass the bill, leading to the budget impass that finally ended last night.

Passing a state budget has been a battle from the day Rendell introduced it in March. In his budget address, Rendell gave the General Assembly a balanced bare-bones budget with deep cuts across many programs, including drug and alcohol treatment, libraries, and social welfare. The budget approved last night restores much of those cuts.

But in a move that still puzzles many, he asked the Republican-controlled General Assembly in March not to pass the bill and to instead allow him time to offer a budget that would raise the personal-income tax to raise $650 million to pay for early-childhood education initiatives, including smaller classes, preschools for the neediest, and all-day kindergarten. He also sought to legalize slot-machine gambling to pay for a reduction in property taxes and a major economic stimulus package.

But rather than wait for the ambitious spending plan, the General Assembly passed Rendell's budget in record time, forcing Rendell to veto the $4.1 billion education spending portion of the bill.

Since then, the state has missed more than $1 million in school subsidy payments.

Rendell said many people thought he would not win his battle for an increase in the personal income tax and increased education funding at a time when many states were slashing education budgets.

Referring to Yogi Berra's famous line, he said: "It ain't over till it's over. Well, tonight it's over, and we done good."

Well, I'm glad someone's happy. The income tax is going up from 2.8% to 3.1%. There is a new 6% tax on all gross receipts for Cell Phone and Local/Long distance, as well as an additional 35 cent tax on cigarettes.

I'm glad President Bush has been producing jobs, because this bill will end some, and lead more and more people to leave Pennsylvania.

Posted by psugrad98 at December 23, 2003 08:07 AM