Gov. Josh Shapiro Wants to Spend More than Taxpayers Can Pay

Originally published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The weather isn’t the only thing heating up this May. Negotiations are underway for Pennsylvania’s Fiscal Year 2025­­­–26 state budget. These negotiations determine how Pennsylvania uses the dollars in its General Fund, the state’s version of a checking account.

Most state revenue flows into the General Fund, and most state spending comes from it, making budget negotiations an annual, and inevitably contentious, highlight of the year in Harrisburg. But this annual tradition, which always results in increased spending, has pushed Pennsylvania into a fiscally untenable situation.

Since 2019, state spending has increased by over 35 percent, far outpacing inflation, personal income growth, and population growth—key economic indicators measuring taxpayers’ ability to pay for spending increases. Last year, lawmakers passed a $47.6 billion General Fund budget, creating a $3.6 billion budget deficit.

Read more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.