Author: Marc Stier

No comments

The Revenue Shortfall and the Budget

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget, Pennsylvania State Taxes

Marc Stier | 10/07/2016 Blog Almost as soon as the Pennsylvania budget was passed in July, rumors swirled about the legislature coming back—either in a lame duck session in December or next year—to fix it because it was not truly balanced. The Department of Revenue’s announcement yesterday that revenues for the year to date are running $218 million below estimates, makes revisting the budget even more likely. In July, we at PBPC pointed out that estimates of some of the one-time revenuesincluded in the budget—especially those from selling licenses for internet gaming, for a second Philadelphia casino, and for the expansion of alcohol sales—were possibly over-stated. We also said that we were not confident that enough money was appropriated to meet the likely caseload for medical assistance (The Commonwealth must appropriate its share of funding for these programs to continue to draw down the federal funding for them.) Those problems… Continue reading

No comments

Your Activism (and C3 Dollars) at Work

  By Budget analysis, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

This is the second in a series of blog posts assessing the 2016-17 budget and the budget negotiation process from PBPC and its allies. Politics takes patience. Victories take time. And that goes for small victories as well as big ones. While the 2016-17 Pennsylvania budget leaves much to be desired, it does close about half of the structural deficit this year with recurring revenues; that is, revenue that the state will receive year after year. And that revenue mostly comes from a series of good proposals that we at the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center have championed over the years. One is the provision to close the sales tax vendor loophole. Stores, including big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, have up until now been allowed to keep a portion of the sales tax revenue they receive from customers. That provision in the tax law in Pennsylvania and… Continue reading

No comments

Victories

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

This is the first in a series of blog posts assessing the 2016-17 budget and the budget negotiation process from PBPC and its allies. It’s hard to be a progressive in Pennsylvania. We think of ourselves as a modern, Northeastern state on a par with Massachusetts and New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. But when it comes to state politics, we find ourselves looking with envy at those states with their progressive taxes and higher (and much more equal) spending on education and human services than here at home. And it’s gotten worse in recent years as right-wing extremists have taken hold of one of our political parties. This year is no different. I’ve already complained about an appropriations bill that does not invest enough in education and human services and the environment and a tax bill that relies too much on one-shot rather than recurring revenue and makes some… Continue reading

No comments

A Budget Balanced in Name Only

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

Finally, with the passage of a revenue bill to fund the appropriates bill passed last wee, we can say the 2016-2017 budget is done. But whether it was a success or not, is very much in doubt. The budget deficit is, technically closed. New projected revenues of $1.3 billion have been enacted. But as the following table shows, over half of the new revenue is non-recurring. That is, it is one-time revenues that will be available only this year and not in future years. That means we will start the 2017-2018 budget year already more than $700 million in deficit. New Revenue in 2016-17  (in millions of dollars) Recurring Revenue Non-recurring revenue Cigarette Tax 431 Tax amnesty 100 E-Cigarettes 13 Internet gaming 100 Smokeless Tobacco 48 Liquor licenses 149 Roll you own 3 Casino license fee-Philadelphia 50 Cap sales tax vendor discount 56 Table games license fee 25 Sales tax… Continue reading

No comments

Statement On the General Assembly Passing a Revenue Bill (HB 1198)

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center Director Marc Stier made the following statement on the General Assembly Passing a Revenue Bill (HB 1198): “The General Assembly finally acted today to meet its constitutional responsibility by voting to raise the $1.3 billion in revenues needed to fund the recently passed appropriations law. But while the revenue package may technically balance the budget for 2016-17, in three respects it does not solve the long term fiscal problems of Pennsylvania.   “First, too much revenue ($709 million) comes from one-time rather than recurring sources ($627 million). As a result, the state’s long term structural deficit has not been closed. Next year will bring another debate about how to fund the government over the long term. “This problem is exacerbated by a second one: the revenue package relies too heavily on dubious sources. Expected revenues from liquor privatization, internet gaming, the license fee for a… Continue reading

No comments

Bad Ideas Under Any Label

  By K-12 Education in PA, PA Budget and Policy Center, Policy briefs

We are hearing that some of the provisions in a House school code bill, HB530, are being included in a Senate-supported school code bill, HB1606. It is unclear which parts of HB530 will be included in HB1606, but we will be monitoring to determine if any of the very problematic provisions of the former bill wind up in the latter. School districts in Pennsylvania contain a mix of traditional public schools and charter schools. Some local school districts want to add charters schools. Many do not. Unfortunately, provisions included in HB530 which might be amended into HB1606 will remove much of the supervisory and decision-making authority from local school districts in every corner of the state. Since charter schools receive funding from local school districts, the creation of new seats in charter schools without school board supervision and control diminishes the ability of school districts to establish and manage their… Continue reading

No comments

Statement on Gov. Wolf’s Decision to Allow the Appropriations Bill to Become Law

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Statements

Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center Director Marc Stier made the following statement on Governor Wolf’s decision to allow the appropriations bill to become law: “Governor Wolf announced that he will let the general fund appropriation bill passed last week become law without his signature if the General Assembly does not pass a revenue bill that fully funds the spending it calls for. “This is an unfortunate, yet reasonable, response to a difficult situation created by the unwillingness of extremists among House Republicans to agree to a revenue package.   “Given the ongoing difficulty of securing an agreement with the extremist faction of the Republican party to fund the government at an adequate level, it was reasonable for Governor Wolf not to risk vetoing the appropriation bill in whole or part. There is no guarantee that spending he vetoed in an already-austere budget would be passed again by the House of… Continue reading

No comments

Diverse Coalition of Organizations Launch “PA’s Choice” Budget Campaign

  By John Neurohr, PA Budget and Policy Center, Political Organizing, Press release

A diverse coalition of groups from across the state, including education advocates, community service organizations, faith-based groups, environmental groups and labor organizations launched the “Pennsylvania’s Choice” campaign today to bring attention to the devastating consequences of budget cuts across the commonwealth and to advocate for a Pennsylvania budget that best serves the people. If Pennsylvania continues to enact unbalanced state budgets, the commonwealth will run a deficit that grows every year. Without new tax revenues, Pennsylvania will not be able to maintain the needed funding for education, human services, the environment, or community and economic development. “Pennsylvania’s Choice” partners will be organizing in areas across the state, bringing together community members to make clear to elected officials that, if the state cannot secure new revenues, these communities will face devastating cutbacks to programs in these and other areas that are critical to Pennsylvanians every single day. Utilizing earned media events,… Continue reading

No comments

Winners and Losers

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

Governor Wolf decided yesterday to allow the latest Republican budget to become law. We were hoping he would veto it. But we understand why, given the intransigence of the extremists in the PA General Assembly, he decided to bring this round to a close, keep schools open this year, and continue the fight for fair and equitable funding for education and human services to enact next year’s budget. We will join him in that and subsequent rounds. But as this one closes, we should be honest about what we lost and congratulate those who won. So, if you believe that natural gas drillers should not pay another cent to the government, even if that means we never restore the Corbett cuts to education funding and human services, congratulations — you won yesterday. If you don’t care that schools in rich districts in Pennsylvania spend 33% more per child than schools… Continue reading

No comments

Understanding the Numbers in a Budget Crisis

  By Budget, Education, K-12 Education in PA, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Budget, Policy reports

This Reports and Briefing Papers compares the three budget propasls comimng out of Harrisburg: Governor Wolf‰’s budget proposal, the Republican budget, and the bi-partisan budget. The report focuses especially on the differences and similarities among these three budgets with respect to proposed General Fund spending as a share of the state economy and spending on two key components of the budget, Pre-K-12 education funding and human services funding. Click here to print or read full screen.  Continue reading