The compromise budget Gov. Wolf called 'garbage'

By Mike Turzai

A more than $13 billion increase in state taxes over two years: That's what Gov. Wolf demanded of Pennsylvania families and businesses almost a year ago. His budget proposal would have increased the state income tax by 21 percent and the sales tax by 10 percent, while expanding the latter to include day care, senior care, and financial and legal services.

In contrast, the legislature presented its fifth straight on-time budget to the governor on June 30, calling for $30.2 billion in spending, a 3.3 percent increase over the 2014-15 budget. It included $370 million in additional spending on education yet did not raise taxes. Keep in mind that the general rate of inflation was less than 1 percent in 2015, so that level of spending growth was not easy to ask of many members of the legislature.

At the same time, the legislature passed historic public pension reforms to reduce long-term costs to the commonwealth as well as liquor privatization, which would have increased annual state revenues without raising taxes on people or businesses.

Wolf vetoed all these measures.

For months, the governor wouldn't back off his demand for massive tax hikes. The legislature therefore passed a second budget - a stopgap - on Sept. 29. Wolf vetoed that budget in total as well.

The sole reason there is state funding for schools, nonprofits, and county human-services agencies today is that the legislature did its job. The House passed a $30.3 billion budget on Dec. 8, which passed the Senate on Dec. 23. That budget increases total state education spending by $405 million, bringing total spending on prekindergarten-through-12th-grade education to its highest level ever. It also includes money for 350 new state troopers and increases funding for senior services, domestic violence centers, rape crisis centers, and special-needs individuals. The governor has signed much of this third budget into law.

The notion that this budget decreased spending on public education by $95 million is a complete fabrication. At the recommendation of the governor's office, $305 million in state reimbursements for certain school construction projects was removed from the general-fund budget for this and future years.

While signing the vast majority of the budget, the governor used campaign rhetoric that was unstatesmanlike, unprofessional, and replete with inaccuracies. He called the budget "garbage" and "ridiculous."

Our budget relied on the work of the bipartisan Basic Education Funding Commission in directing dollars to school districts. The funding commission's formula was agreed to unanimously by members of the House, the Senate, and the governor's office.

In sharp contrast, the governor's budget used a specious and unfair approach to school funding. It sent the bulk of its new spending to targeted districts.

While there was a lot of talk about Wolf's $30.8 billion budget, there were never votes for the tax increases necessary to support that level of spending. Further, his budget brought back "walking-around money" for special projects and other discretionary spending that had been eliminated by the legislature in 2011-12.

Three fiscally responsible budgets for 2015-16 were placed on the governor's desk, none of which required an increase in the personal income or sales tax. They made key investments in areas that are important to Pennsylvanians. Each funded public education at record levels. And each fully funded every state government function, including human services and corrections.

The $30.3 billion budget that the House initiated, the Senate passed, and the governor largely signed into law is in fact a compromise budget that respects taxpayers while prioritizing state spending. Any responsible governor would have signed this budget in its entirety and not resorted to capricious line-item vetoes that throw the commonwealth further into crisis.

Mike Turzai (R., Allegheny) is the speaker of the Pennsylvania House.