Welcome to Common Sense Weekly! This is the Commonwealth Foundation's weekly news roundup of policy issues being debated in Harrisburg and across Pennsylvania.
Income tax plan raising $6.2B in revenue up for discussion.
A new plan that raises $6.2 billion in revenue through a shift in income tax rates for Pennsylvania residents and businesses alike got its first hearing Friday.
House Bill 1773 proposes cutting wage and interest taxes by roughly one-third and nearly doubling the rate for passive income like lottery and gambling winnings, net profits, dividends and gains from rents, royalties, patents, copyrights and those derived through estates and trusts.
Supporters, including the five Democrats who sponsored the bill, say doing so will redistribute the burden so that Pennsylvania’s “most financially vulnerable citizens” will no longer struggle underneath the weight of a “longstanding regressive income tax.”
Fourfold tax increase for small businesses proposed in Pennsylvania House
Against the backdrop of escalating economic uncertainties, House Democrats have introduced a bill that would substantially raise the tax rate on passive income for small businesses across the state.
House Bill 1773, titled the “Fair Share Tax Plan” proposes an increase in taxes on passive income sources for small businesses, including S-corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietors, from the current rate of 3.07 percent to a staggering 12 percent.
This increase would affect all of Pennsylvania’s nearly 180,000 small businesses, along with the millions of workers they employ.
PA Democrats turning against radical green agenda?
In a sign of how far left the Democratic Party has veered, once-avowed progressives are now hesitant to embrace eco-fundamentalism — the dogmatic ideology that vilifies affordable energy, oversells “green” initiatives and advances ruinous policies.
Consider Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.). They’re both loyal, party-line Pennsylvania Democrats. But they’re also politicians who know which way the wind is blowing with the American people. So they broke ranks with President Biden on his liquid natural gas (LNG) export ban.
Bipartisan Pushback in PA Against Costly Biden Administration Regulation
One of the most underreported crises in American culture is the collateral damage people and communities suffer from government overregulation. Just one little regulation can start a spiral that affects an entire community’s ability to prosper and thrive, keep generations of families intact, or give students the tools they need to succeed.
In reaction, most politicians on both sides of the aisle traditionally do one of two things. Either they shrug but do nothing, or they have a press conference to point fingers at the opposing political parties — while still not doing much.
For once, though, elected officials are doing better. Here, local congressional Democrats and Republicans have joined forces in both the U.S. Senate and the House, in both Pennsylvania and Ohio (and elsewhere), to halt a Biden Department of Energy rule that would force any business manufacturing electric distribution transformers to stop using grain-oriented steel cores and instead use amorphous metal.
Shapiro's irresponsible budget
Governor Shapiro thinks Pennsylvania should have a budget more like New Jersey. He couldn't be more mistaken. Tell Shapiro that we need a fiscally responsible budget.
