Highlights of Gov. Tom Wolf's second state budget proposal


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Highlights of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's spending plan for the 2016-17 budget year that starts July 1:

__

THE BIG PICTURE

— Increases spending through the state's main bank account to nearly $33.3 billion. That is a two-year increase of $4.3 billion, or 14 percent, from the last full-year, enacted budget.

— Raises taxes by nearly $3 billion on income, sales, natural gas drilling, insurance premiums, banks and tobacco.

— Does not revive a $3.2 billion school property tax relief plan he proposed last year as part of an effort to shift burden of public school funding away from local school districts.

STATE TAXES

— INCOME: Increases rate 11 percent, to 3.4 percent from the current 3.07 percent, to raise $1.4 billion. Effective Jan. 1, 2016.

— SALES: Keeps rate at 6 percent, but eliminates exemptions on basic cable TV, movie theater tickets and digital downloads to raise $415 million. Effective April 1, 2016.

— CIGARETTES: Raises per-pack tax to $2.60, from $1.60, to raise $468 million. Effective April 1, 2016. Extends a 40 percent wholesale tax to sales of cigars, loose tobacco, smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes to generate $136 million. Effective May 1, 2016; for loose tobacco, effective July 1, 2016.

— NATURAL GAS: Imposes a new tax on natural-gas production — 6.5 percent of value — to generate $218 million. Effective Jan. 1, 2016.

— INSURANCE PREMIUMS: Imposes a surcharge of 0.5 percent of premiums to fire, property and casualty insurance to generate $101 million. Effective Jan. 1, 2016.

— CASINO GAMBLING: Imposes new 8 percent tax on promotional plays at casinos to generate $51 million. Effective Jan. 1, 2016.

— BANKS: Raises rate of shares tax on bank and trust companies to 0.99 percent, from 0.89 percent, to generate $39 million. Effective Jan. 1, 2016.

— TAX FORGIVENESS: Expands eligibility limits to families of four making up to $36,400, for a tax expenditure of $83 million. The current limit is $34,250. Effective Jan. 1, 2016.

EDUCATION

— Increases aid for public school operations and instruction by $565 million, a two-year increase of 10 percent to $6.3 billion.

— Increases early-childhood education funding by $90 million, an increase of 54 percent to $256 million.

— Increases special education funding by $70 million, a 6.5 percent increase, to $1.15 billion.

— Increases aid to higher education, including state system universities, state-related universities, student grants and community colleges, by 5 percent to $1.7 billion.

DEPARTMENT SPENDING

— EDUCATION: Grows 22 percent over two years, to $12.9 billion.

— HUMAN SERVICES: Grows 12 percent over two years, to $12.7 billion.

— CORRECTIONS: Grows 22 percent over two years, to $2.6 billion.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Business stories

Related topics

Business
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast