State of Pennsylvania secondary Archives: on Budget & Economy
David McCormick:
Support small businesses; get government out of the way
Dave will put an end to Biden's disastrous economic policies that have resulted in higher living costs and have made our economy less competitive on the global stage. As a job creator and successful businessman, Dave knows how to get our economy
back on track and growing again by supporting small businesses, lowering taxes on working-class Americans, bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, investing in critical technologies, and getting government out of the way.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign web DaveMcCormickPA.com
May 22, 2022
Doug Mastriano:
Propose a 2023 budget that keeps reckless spending in check
REDUCE BURDEN OF GOVERNMENT: BUDGET AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY- Work with the Auditor General and State Treasurer to audit and itemize the previous five year's budgets to identify areas of waste and abuse
-
Propose a 2023 budget that keeps reckless spending in check
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Governor campaign website doug4gov.com
May 18, 2022
Ed Rendell:
Will not raise any taxes
This budget doesn't propose any increases in the personal income tax, sales tax, or any other tax, or propose increasing taxes on our corporate community. This budget doesn't include any new revenues from gaming, including slot machines at racetracks
in Pennsylvania. It includes revenues from a new assessment on nursing home facilities, as has been suggested by representatives of the industry, adding an additional $145 million to sustain funding for the Commonwealth's long-term care program.
Source: Budget Address to Pennsylvania General Assembly
Mar 4, 2003
Ed Rendell:
Cut spending across the board
I'll cut the cost of running the government by 10% across the board. We anticipate not filling 1,536 existing vacancies and continuing our ongoing efforts to reduce waste and manage more efficiently and effectively. I'm requesting that the Legislature &
the 3 elected independent offices do their fair share by holding funding to current year levels, with no increases for FY03-04. This budget eliminates a series of health care programs and implements a five percent reduction in most social service grants.
Source: Budget Address to Pennsylvania General Assembly
Mar 4, 2003
Ed Rendell:
Spending cuts inflict real hardship but are necessary
This is the grim reality of our budget crisis. These spending cuts inflict real hardship, eliminating valuable programs and cutting needed services. This budget provides for no investments in Pennsylvania's future. But it is balanced. And, as Governor,
I have an obligation to act. The deficit that we confront today is the price we pay for putting off the day of reckoning until now. If we put it off any longer, the consequences will be even worse. I don't like this budget, not one little bit.
Source: Budget Address to Pennsylvania General Assembly
Mar 4, 2003
Ed Rendell:
Find savings of $1 billion by cutting wasteful spending
We're moving ahead on a whole range of initiatives to reduce the cost of government across the board. Our goal is to over time find savings of $1 billion, all by cutting wasteful spending and improving efficiencies. We're already making great progress,
identifying $255 million in cost savings and revenue enhancements in this budget. We're pursuing initiatives to purchase government supplies & materials more efficiently to reduce our warehouse costs - which alone could save more than $250 million a year
Source: Budget Address to Pennsylvania General Assembly
Mar 4, 2003
Everett Stern:
Pro-growth: make small business loan more readily available
I will promote pro-growth policies focusing on small business and job creation. Small businesses are the major driving force of job creation. I will increase jobs in Pennsylvania by lifting federal impediments to small business development by making
it easier to obtain small business loans. I am a Pennsylvania small business owner and a average citizen that built his company Tactical Rabbit from nothing. I could not acquire a small business loan, so I waited tables at
P.F. Chang's to save enough money to start his company. I am on a mission to ensure that enough financial resources are available to Pennsylvania small business owners.
When small business grows so will the amount of available jobs. My plan for the economic growth of Pennsylvania's small businesses will create the necessary jobs that our citizens need.
Source: 2016 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website, EverettStern.com
Sep 9, 2015
Everett Stern:
End notion that only job of business is to maximize profit
A radical free market fundamentalism has stripped the US of vital manufacturing know-how for the purposes of enriching the few and impoverishing our working and middle classes. In a grab for quick profits, the life blood of our prosperity and
National Security is being drained. The economic ideology of Milton Friedman, that the only job of CEOs and company executives is to maximize profits for shareholders at the expense of fraying the social fabric of this country has to come to an end.
Source: 2021 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website EverettStern.com
Jun 20, 2021
Jeff Bartos:
Big companies thrived in pandemic; mom-and-pops got crushed
[On small business]: "Our elected officials, time and again, do not have Main Street in their hearts and in their minds when they enact policies," Bartos said. "In many respects, they're distant, removed or aloof from Main Street.
That's why you see Walmart and Target thriving during the pandemic, Amazon thriving during the pandemic, and small mom-and-pops getting crushed, closing. Main Streets empty. Lives destroyed. Dreams destroyed."
Source: Johnstown Tribune-Democrat on 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race
Mar 19, 2021
Jeff Bartos:
Trump tax cuts, deregulation led to best economy pre-COVID
It's important to kind of step back and talk about the policies that the president and his administration implemented. Domestically, we could talk about tax cuts, we could talk about deregulation, we could talk about the best economy any of us
have seen in our lifetimes prior to the pandemic, we could talk about the real impact of those economic policies on the lowest wage-earners. We were hitting on all cylinders and heading into 2020 with a record-breaking economy before the pandemic.
Source: Jewish Insider on 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race
Mar 11, 2021
Jeff Bartos:
Opposed American Rescue Plan as "spendapalooza"
Bartos opposed the recent $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan that received no Republican support. "What was passed in Washington is what people hate about Washington," Bartos said. "We have a $1.9 trillion spendapalooza that is called a 'COVID relief
bill' when only--give or take--10% of the bill actually is directed at COVID relief, and the other 90% is a grab bag of liberal wish list and left-wing policies all cobbled together and passed in one bill with no bipartisan work, no compromise.
Source: Johnstown Tribune-Democrat on 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race
Mar 19, 2021
Jeff Bartos:
Concerned infrastructure bill might burden working families
The announcement came that the Senate had agreed to move forward on a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package. When asked if he would have supported the bill, Bartos explained that he would have wanted to have read through the whole
proposal. "I'm deeply concerned about the nomenclature the Biden administration has used to describe infrastructure," he said. He conceded that Pennsylvania's roads "are in need of major repairs," but doesn't want to "place a burden on working families."
Source: Observer-Reporter on 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race
Jul 30, 2021
Josh Shapiro:
Start budgets at zero, define mission, then fund it
[On spending priorities]: "I believe zero-based budgeting is the most important thing governments can do," Shapiro says. "From Harrisburg to D.C., the debate is always about taxes and spending, when what we should be doing is starting our budgets at
zero, defining our core mission, and then funding it." Shapiro was able to decrease overall spending but increase investment in areas where it was most needed--proving that zero-based budgeting just might be the most direct way to real reform.
Source: Philadelphia Citizen on 2022 Pennsylvania Gubernatorial race
Jan 16, 2016
Kathy Barnette:
Incentivize investments in assets that generate real growth
We can't cut our way into growth. We can't spend our way into growth, as the current Administration is attempting to do. We can only grow our way into growth. This means revamping how we grow our economy and clarifying our monetary policies.
Our economic policy must be one that incentivizes investments in those assets that generate real, sustainable, and significant growth--machinery, computers, trucks or any assets that increase production.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate website BarnetteForSenate.com
Feb 16, 2022
Ken Krawchuk:
Market-led recovery better than stimulus
Q: Do you support or oppose the statement, "Stimulus better than market-led recovery"?
A: Oppose. Government cannot know who to support over others.
Source: OnTheIssues interview: 2018 Pennsylvania Governor candidate
May 18, 2018
Lou Barletta:
Recovery is found in private business, not big government
Q: Support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?Lou Barletta (R):
No. "Key to job creation & economic recovery is found in small, private businesses, not in big government."
Bob Casey (D): Yes.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Pennsylvania Senate race
Oct 9, 2018
Mehmet Oz:
President Biden's reckless spending has led to inflation
President Biden's reckless spending has led to inflation--increasing the price of everything from gas to groceries. His shutdowns and failed economic policies have disrupted our supply chains. And his reluctance to fully confront
China and support energy independence has left us in a weak position. Dr. Oz believes that restoring America's economy begins by focusing on the problems we face here at home--and reversing Biden's failed agenda.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website DoctorOz.com
Dec 8, 2021
Pat Toomey:
Growing government was not the key to economic recovery
Toomey railed against Democratic opponent Joe Sestak for supporting "serial bailouts of failing companies, government nationalizing whole industries, spending money on a scale we've never seen before," the stimulus plan, the cap-and-trade energy tax, and
the federal health-care bill. "Joe Sestak has voted for every single item on that agenda," Toomey said. "His only criticism is that it doesn't go far enough."Toomey said that growing government was not the key to economic recovery, and that both
federal and state government should be pushing policies that will encourage job growth in the private sector. He advocated making the 2003 tax cuts permanent and reining in spending. "This isn't rocket science," said Toomey. "If we clear away the threats
coming out of Washington--the excessive regulation, the government takeover--then I am convinced that the 21st century will be another great American century. We've got a great opportunity to take back our country and get it on the right track."
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer on 2010 Pennsylvania Senate race
Oct 30, 2010
Tom Corbett:
Reduce the size and cost of state government
The option I have chosen is to reduce the size and cost of state government. I'm proposing something we haven't had in a long time: a reality-based budget. The electorate, its trust scraped to the bone by lies and half-truths, isn't going to stand for
another broken promise. I said we'd cut. I'm not asking you to read my lips. I'm asking you to read my budget. And you can read my budget online, from your home. My administration created an online budget "dashboard."
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
Tom Corbett:
Reduce the size and cost of state government
The option I have chosen is to reduce the size and cost of state government. I'm proposing something we haven't had in a long time: a reality-based budget. The electorate, its trust scraped to the bone by lies and half-truths, isn't going to stand for
another broken promise. I said we'd cut. I'm not asking you to read my lips. I'm asking you to read my budget. And you can read my budget online, from your home. My administration created an online budget "dashboard."
People can log on and view the entire budget in a reader-friendly form. You'll be able to see for yourself how we propose to spend your money. You can track the revenue source.
You can check every department's spending, where it came from, where it's going, and why. There's a reason I call it the "dashboard." It's time the tax-paying citizen felt as if he or she were in the driver's seat.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
Tom Wolf:
Cut personal taxes 13%; fund schools by gas extraction tax
My budget actually reduces the total tax burden on average middle-class homeowners by 13 percent. So how will we do it? We will do it with tax reforms that are smart, pragmatic, and fair. We will do it with changes that will help eliminate the deficit,
protect the middle class, and set the table for robust private sector growth.It starts by doing what every other major gas producing state has already done. We are going to place a severance tax on the extraction of natural gas.
And we are going to tie the revenues from the tax to funding for public education.
I am proposing a five percent severance tax that is projected to generate more than $1 billion in annual revenues.
While local communities will continue to receive funding to address the impact of the drilling, the bulk of these funds will be used to invest in public education.
This is not about politics or ideology. It is simply common sense.
Source: State of the State address to 2015 Pennsylvania Legislature
Mar 3, 2015
Tom Wolf:
Grow paltry rainy day fund from $245,000 to $500M by 2022
I'm offering a budget proposal that represents a responsible solution to our deficit challenge--and a different approach from the way things have been done in Harrisburg for almost a generation. Let's start here: In my proposed budget, there are no
broad-based tax increases. At the same time, my budget protects the investments we've made in education, in senior services, in fighting the scourge of opioids, and in growing Pennsylvania's economy. And it sets our Commonwealth on a sustainable
fiscal course that will grow our paltry rainy day fund from $245,000 today to almost $500 million by 2022.How? By reforming our state government--and by making Harrisburg work smarter. One of my first acts as Governor--two years ago--was to identify
$150 million we could save by making our state government more efficient--everything from negotiating for lower prices from vendors to putting voter registration online to streamlining the process for outgoing mail.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Pennsylvania Legislature
Feb 7, 2016
Tom Wolf:
OpEd: Line-item veto prolongs the budget impasse
Rep. Rick Saccone released the following statement after Gov. Tom Wolf used the line-item veto on several previously agreed upon items, including education funding, in order to prolong the budget impasse at the expense of Pennsylvania taxpayers."Gov.
Wolf has finally realized that he cannot hold schools and human service agencies hostage during this budget stalemate. The Legislature has been calling for the release of this critical funding for months, and it is about time that our governor recognize
the needs of our most vulnerable citizens. Gov. Wolf claims that the budget sent to him by the Senate last week cuts education funding by $95 million. This is simply untrue. This budget increased education funding by more than $400 million.
It is well past time for the political posturing to come to an end. Once again, the governor has purposefully wasted an opportunity to end this budget impasse. Today's events are further evidence that Gov. Wolf is waging war on taxpayers."
Source: Press release on Pennsylvania legislative voting records
Dec 30, 2015
William McSwain:
Career politicians have overextended the state's budget
PUTTING A STOP TO OUT-OF-CONTROL SPENDING IN HARRISBURG: For decades, our elected leaders and career politicians have overextended the state's budget, run huge deficits, and failed to fund our pension system adequately. As Governor, Bill will ensure
that Harrisburg focuses on fiscal discipline, ensuring adequate pension funding for our state retirees, lowering taxes, and spending taxpayer money responsibly--because if PA families have to live within our means, so should Harrisburg politicians.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Governor campaign website BillMcSwain.com
Feb 25, 2022
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023