Hold The Line

HOLD THE LINE AT $47.9 BILLION Protect Your Wallet and Pennsylvania’s Future “Governor Josh Shapiro’s latest budget proposal is a wake-up call: it could mean a 52% jump in your income taxes. That is a massive hit to your paycheck. There is a better option—a $47.9 billion budget keeps your taxes steady, stops reckless spending and puts Pennsylvania back on solid ground. I am asking you to tell your lawmakers: Hold the line at $47.9.”

The secret is out: Pennsylvania is in financial trouble. This budget might be our last opportunity to change course.

When Governor Shapiro took office in 2022, he started with a $42.7 billion budget and over $13 billion in total surplus funds. The biggest question facing lawmakers back then was what to do with all those surplus funds. Save it for emergencies? Spend it on one-time projects or programs? Give it back to the taxpayers? Many of us had differing ideas, often crossing traditional party lines. But there was one thing everyone with basic money management skills could agree on: do not use these one-time funds for recurring expenses.

Here is a simple way to think about it. Imagine you win $1,000 from a lottery ticket. Would you rush out and buy a car with a $1,000 monthly payment? Sure, you could cover the first month, but what about the next five years? You would be stuck with a bill you could not afford. Most people would save that money, invest it, or maybe treat themselves to something like a new TV— something which will not deplete their wallet month after month.

Sadly, Governor Shapiro did not take that common-sense approach. Since taking office, he has driven up spending to levels we cannot keep up with. He has burned through $8 billion of that extra cash on recurring expenses and left us with a $1.85 billion deficit. It gets worse: his new $51.47 billion budget would wipe out the rest of our savings by 2027-2028, causing a gaping $6.85 billion deficit. The only way to fill it? A 52% income tax hike. The Wall Street Journal called it “Josh Shapiro’s Pennsylvania Budget Trap.”

But there is a way out. A $47.9 billion budget would shrink next year’s deficit from $4.85 billion to $1.9 billion. By 2026-2027, we could wipe out the shortage completely and still have a small emergency fund left over. It is a plan which makes sense— all without raising your taxes.

Anything over $47.9 billion is a recipe for disaster. It is the kind of reckless spending which turned places like California into tax-and-debt nightmares. We do not want that here. A $47.9 billion budget is our ticket to ending deficits, keeping a safety net for tough times and protecting hardworking individuals like yourself from tax hikes.

Pennsylvania, it is time to speak up. No more tax increases, no tricky budget games, no more spending money we do not have. I need your voice. Tell your elected officials to hold the line at $47.9 billion. Your wallet and Pennsylvania’s future depend on it.