Gov. Tom Wolf's plan to end Pennsylvania's 99-day-old state budget impasse was soundly defeated Wednesday when all House Republicans and nine of the governor's fellow Democrats voted against a plan to raise billions in income and gas drilling taxes.
The House voted 127-73 against Wolf's plan to increase the state's personal income tax by a half point and create a new extraction tax on Marcellus Shale natural gas production.
Democrats needed more than a dozen Republican votes, but were unable to keep moderate members of their own caucus from western Pennsylvania on board.
Wolf had proposed the revised tax package on Tuesday, after Republican leaders who control both chambers of the Legislature offered him a floor vote to demonstrate whether there was support for his approach.
"It is time to get about the business of getting this done," said Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, at the close of six hours of debate. "It's time to take ideas and formulate them and put them together and build a better future."
Wolf and his Democratic allies want new revenues to plug a billion-dollar-plus structural deficit and to send more money to schools and for human services. But Republicans argued the income tax increase would be largely borne by working families and warned the gas tax, on top of an existing impact fee, could damage the industry.
Wolf was "holding Pennsylvanians hostage to his unreasonable demand to strip away more of their wealth," said Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler. "This is no more compromise than a thug on the street telling you at gunpoint: 'Give me the money in your pockets.'"
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The vote was just the most recent in a series of partisan votes and Wolf vetoes since the state's politically divided policymakers have struggled to craft a spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1. Illinois is the only other state without a budget in place.
"The budget deficit is real, it is massive," said Rep. Joe Markosek of Allegheny County, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. "Pennsylvania is in a fiscal mess, and if we don't raise more revenue, if we continue to kick the can down the road, the resulting cuts will make the previous administration's cuts seem like child's play."
Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said lower-income residents would see natural gas become more costly, while working families would be hit with a 16 percent income tax hike.
"Let's roll up our sleeves, find ways, smart ways to balance our budget without putting the burden on middle class and low-income Pennsylvanians," Grove said.
Wolf's goal had been to raise $1.4 billion for the current fiscal year and $2.4 billion next year.
