• Upper Bucks County
    • Live & Work
    • Visit
    • Community Calendar
  • Business Directory
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Committees
    • History
    • Subscribe to UBCC Newsletter
  • Membership
    • Membership Application
    • Business Directory
    • Directory Advertisement
    • Member Benefits
    • Getting Involved
    • Membership Questions
    • Knowledge Grub Club
    • Featured Biz of the Month
    • Member Login
  • News & Events
    • Chamber Calendar
    • Chamber News
    • Community Calendar
    • Our Community
    • Advocacy
    • Photo Gallery
  • GOLF
  • BUSINESS RESOURCES
    • WORKFORCE
    • Online Training
    • Starting Up
    • Expanding
    • Business Directory
    • Coupons
  • JOB BANK
  • BLOG
  Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce

ubcc BLOG

UBCC Legislative Series -  State of the State

4/17/2019

0 Comments

 
BY MELINDA RIZZO
It’s budget time in Harrisburg.

Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce set the table for a state budget and services update to area business and community members in its second of three legislative breakfasts held April 12 at McCoole’s Arts & Events Place in Quakertown.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed $34.2 billion spending plan does not increase the Personal Income Tax (PIT) or state sales tax. The budget is about 2.8 percent, or roughly $927 million over last year’s, said state Rep. Craig Staats (R-Bucks).

Staats was joined by State Senators Bob Mensch (R-24th district) and Steve Santarsiero (D-10th district).

Spurring economic growth is a “hot topic” not just in local gathering spots, business meetings or around dinner tables, but in the Harrisburg Rotunda, too.

Staats said reducing Pennsylvania’s corporate income tax was a top priority “if we want to be competitive,” Staats said.
Pennsylvania’s 9.99 percent tax levy is among the highest state corporate income tax rates in the nation, Staats said. The proposed reduction to 8.99 percent, with incremental decreases to the tax in future budgets, is a start.

Staats believes reducing the corporate income tax is a key to attracting new and retaining existing businesses and investment.
Another impact to the commonwealth’s growth is a proposal to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 per hour, with incremental increases to $15 per hour over time.

So far the hourly increase doesn’t seem popular with tip workers, who currently earn about $2.83 per hour and make up the difference in tips, earned either table-side or from bartending, he said.

Santarsiero said he supported increasing the minimum wage, but it shouldn’t be seen as a policy to spur economic growth.

“From the state level there needs to be investment” in public education and greater tuition relief to attend college along with a fresh approach to funding it. Funding schools with property taxes is a burden on property owners… [and it] hurts economic growth,” Santarsiero said.

He said the state could take an active role in supporting career paths other than four-year college educations, which often leave students saddled with heavy debt.

“We have to get past this idea that every kid has to go to college,” Santarsiero said.

Pennsylvania spends about 80 percent of its budget on education and human services, Staats said.

Legislators are also considering a proposal for a sliding fee scale to help fund municipal state police coverage to those without local police departments.

A drop off of emergency medical services or EMS volunteers, which include ambulance and fire departments, are a state-wide concern amid a declining trend of fewer recruits.

Mensch said state and local government as well as the business community needed to explore ways to make volunteering with EMS and fire departments attractive once more.

“In 1970 there were 300,000 firefighters, and today there are [about] 38,000,” Mensch said.

The third and final legislative breakfast series concludes May 31 with Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick offering the “State of the Nation”. Fitzpatrick is a Republican Congressman serving Pennsylvania’s 8th congressional district. For information visit www.ubcc.org/events. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce

    An economic development agency for Upper Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

    Archives

    November 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

 Copyright Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce.  All Rights Reserved.
21 N. Main Street | Quakertown, PA 18951
phone: 215.536.3211 | fax: 215.536.7767  |  info@ubcc.org | sitemap
MemberClicks
  • Upper Bucks County
    • Live & Work
    • Visit
    • Community Calendar
  • Business Directory
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Board of Directors
    • Committees
    • History
    • Subscribe to UBCC Newsletter
  • Membership
    • Membership Application
    • Business Directory
    • Directory Advertisement
    • Member Benefits
    • Getting Involved
    • Membership Questions
    • Knowledge Grub Club
    • Featured Biz of the Month
    • Member Login
  • News & Events
    • Chamber Calendar
    • Chamber News
    • Community Calendar
    • Our Community
    • Advocacy
    • Photo Gallery
  • GOLF
  • BUSINESS RESOURCES
    • WORKFORCE
    • Online Training
    • Starting Up
    • Expanding
    • Business Directory
    • Coupons
  • JOB BANK
  • BLOG