Nov. 10, 2015
HARRISBURG – A bill by Rep. Duane Milne (R-Chester) to extend a program that saves hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year passed the House Finance Committee yesterday.
Funds from the Enhanced Revenue Collections Account (ERCA), created in 2010, aid the Commonwealth in enforcing collection of existing revenues, performing additional audits and more rigorously examining tax-refund requests. The account has been reauthorized three times since its enactment.
“As we consider our options to secure funding for the core functions of Pennsylvania’s government,” Milne said, “our first fiduciary duty is to make the most of current revenue streams and keep unneeded new pressure off our taxpayers.”
Act 126, passed and signed into law last session, extended the program until Fiscal Year 2019-2020. That extension is however linked to other provisions in the law that last only a year.
Milne’s legislation (
House Bill 1378) does not change ERCA but ensures the program keeps running through FY 2019-2020.
When the account was reauthorized last year, its appropriation was increased from $15,000,000 to a maximum of $25,000,000 annually. Earlier this month, the Department of Revenue reported ERCA’s $25,000,000 in expenditures generated $286,726,426 in revenue.
“Available data show this program saves taxpayers ten times its cost,” Milne said.
Representative Duane Milne
167th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: David Foster
267.207.0207
dfoster@pahousegop.com
DuaneMilne.com