Media
Audio: PA Budget Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day has come and gone, but Gov. Wolf hasn’t stopped celebrating Punxsutawney Phil’s big day. Paying homage to the theme of the Groundhog Day movie, Wolf has trapped Pennsylvanians in a time loop similar to the one that imprisoned Bill Murray's weatherman character–only this time loop is budget-related.
CF’s Matt Brouillette was on the Gary Sutton Show discussing his recent op-ed on PennLive, which asks if Gov. Wolf's second budget address will give taxpayers déjà vu all over again.
Matt notes that despite his pledge to be a “different kind of governor”, Wolf is “doubling down on the same rhetoric, the same approach that, frankly, failed in 2015”. He plans to propose the same historic, broad-based tax hikes on Pennsylvania families–proposals that have failed a total of five times.
What's more, in true Groundhog Day fashion, Wolf is repeating the myths that Pennsylvania’s education funding has been cut and the system is underfunded. Matt dispels this myth, noting Gov. Wolf is the one who “vetoed over $3 billion going to education” which would have “increased [education] spending by over $400 million.”
Gov. Wolf also plans to re-propose hitting the flailing drilling industry with a severance tax to “fund education.” Not only would this drive out more businesses from Pennsylvania but it would also add $180 million to taxpayers' utility bills.
Instead of repeating past mistakes, Gov. Wolf should break the budget time loop by focusing on resolutions that benefit all Pennsylvanians–such as limiting the unconstrained growth of government spending and cutting corporate welfare subsidies.
Click here or listen below to hear more.
The Gary Sutton Show airs daily on WSBA 910AM in the York area.
Follow Commonwealth Foundation’s SoundCloud stream for more of our audio content.
For mobile listening, get the SoundCloud iPhone and Android apps.