Feb. 09, 2016
HARRISBURG – Rep. Sue Helm (R-Dauphin/Lebanon) today joined her House Republican colleagues in rejecting Gov. Tom Wolf’s call for raising taxes in his 2016-17 budget proposal, which he presented to a joint session of the General Assembly. The governor’s budget would increase taxes by $2.7 billion.
Wolf’s spending plan would increase the Personal Income Tax by 11 percent and expand the sales tax to include a number of items that are currently tax exempt. In addition, the governor would impose a 6.5 percent severance tax on the struggling natural gas industry.
Helm issued the following statement regarding the governor’s proposed budget:
“Once again, the governor is completely out of touch with the economic reality faced by many of my constituents who simply cannot afford the higher taxes he is proposing. I hear it time and time again when I am traveling throughout the district – please keep up the fight against the Wolf tax plan – and that is exactly what I intend to do.
“The governor’s plan to raise the Personal Income Tax would hurt hard-working families that are living paycheck to paycheck. Senior citizens who haven’t seen an increase in their Social Security benefits would suffer as well by having to pay a sales tax on movie tickets and cable TV.
“As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I will be carefully reviewing the spending requests made by the various state agencies and department heads during the upcoming budget hearings. Rest assured that the committee will develop a reasonable and responsible spending plan that adequately funds the core functions of government without placing a heavier burden on Pennsylvania taxpayers.”
To view Helm’s video comments visit
youtu.be/EO5E48afkY4.
Three weeks of budget hearings are scheduled to begin on Monday, Feb. 22.
Representative Sue Helm
104th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Andy Briggs
717.260.6474
abriggs@pahousegop.com
SueHelm.net /
Facebook.com/RepHelm