State Rep. John Taylor does not sense much interest among his constituents when it comes to the ongoing budget battle.
The Republican-controlled legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf did not agree to a budget by the June 30 deadline, and the stalemate continues.
Taylor said he gauged interest about the budget issue when he spoke to 700 people at his recent senior citizen expo and document shredding event.
“Two people brought it up,” he said.
Taylor (R-177th dist.) provided an update on Harrisburg happenings during a meeting with the media at Republican City Committee headquarters at 3525–27 Cottman Ave.
Both sides, in Taylor’s view, have made some “disingenuous” arguments. He likens the dispute to what’s going on in the U.S. House of Representatives, where nobody seems to want to become speaker.
State Democrats, he said, make a “fake argument” that taxing Marcellus Shale drilling will help balance the budget. In reality, he said, the tax would bring in only $67 million this fiscal year.
That said, Taylor sees a compromise.
“There probably will be an extraction tax,” he said.
Taylor does not see many places to cut, since the bulk of the budget consists of money directed to education, corrections, senior citizens and welfare. The shortfall is real, and he’s not sure some fellow Republicans recognize it.
Eighty percent of GOP lawmakers, according to Taylor, won’t vote for a tax hike “no matter if the Earth exploded.”
“We won’t use the word ‘deficit,’ ” he said.
Still, those who’ve made no-tax pledges get the best end of the deal, Taylor said. They get to vote against tax increases that, if passed, will close the deficit and fund the schools in their districts.
On the other side, Taylor said, the lobbying of the ultra-liberal Working Families organization is causing some Democrats to drift further left.
Some lawmakers want expanded gambling, including on the Internet, to bring in revenue. But Taylor said that kind of legislation would take too long to enact and implement, and that it wouldn’t bring in enough money to eliminate the deficit or fund needy programs. Taxing smokeless tobacco, he added, would also not bring in enough money.
Taylor sees school districts running out of money, forcing them to borrow money. The date in Philadelphia is Dec. 1. The longtime legislator expects the personal income tax to rise.
When Wolf proposed to raise the income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.57 percent (which would bring in $1 billion) and add a severance tax on natural gas, the House of Representatives voted down the plan, 127–73. Nine Democrats were opposed, and Taylor said another Democrat who was absent would have voted against it.
One problem Wolf is having is winning Republican support, and Taylor said the governor has only himself to blame.
In the summer, some Republican representatives in swing districts were targeted with a half-dozen or more mailers criticizing them for the budget impasse.
“They were absolute campaign mailers,” Taylor said.
Taylor said he’d be resentful if Wolf flooded his constituents’ mailboxes with negative literature. One of the legislators targeted was Kate Harper, of Montgomery County.
“Do you think Kate Harper is interested in helping the governor?” Taylor asked. “She is not.”
Taylor does not see liquor privatization happening. It would be a long-range solution to sell the state stores, and Wolf is opposed to the idea.
Liquor privatization is not a big issue in the 177th district, Taylor said. If he’s at a meeting with 100 people, one person would be for privatization, one would be against and the rest would have no opinion.
“My constituents don’t care much about that,” he said. ••
