Pennsylvania has a workforce problem - a growing skills gap that is making it difficult for employers to find qualified job candidates to fill open positions. We're fighting to close this gap by working with businesses, educators, students and their families to help build the skilled workforce of tomorrow.
Government should operate within its means: evaluating the effectiveness of current programs; weeding out waste, fraud and abuse in spending; and investing wisely in worthy state-run programs that directly benefit taxpayers.
Our natural gas industry holds the promise of economic growth and job creation. Additional taxes hinder this opportunity and drive companies to states with friendlier tax climates that share our resources. We're fighting against proposed new taxes on the industry that would pay for more state spending.
The Pennsylvania Senate should be applauded for its decision to confirm Secretary Patrick McDonnell for another term at the helm of the Department of Environmental Protection, and Gov. Tom Wolf deserves credit for keeping a steady hand at the wheel of this important agency.
Total natural gas production in Pennsylvania grew by 14.7% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period last year, a report by the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office said.
Republicans who control Pennsylvania's Senate are preparing an alternative to Gov. Tom Wolf's proposal for a multibillion-dollar capital plan, funding it by allowing more natural gas drilling in state-owned forests rather than by taxing natural gas production.
Yogi Berra once famously stated, "It's like deja vu all over again."
Opponents of Gov. Tom Wolf's Restore Pennsylvania initiative held a news conference Thursday to express their concerns that the plan would unfairly impact the state's natural gas industry.
Not long after Gov. Tom Wolf wrapped up his stop in Towanda to tout his natural gas severance tax-funded Restore PA initiative, business and industry officials, as well as representatives from neighboring Tioga and Wyoming counties, began sharing concerns via conference call that using a severance tax to fund a variety of much-longed-for infrastructure projects would do nothing but push the natural gas industry away and worsen the area's economic climate.
Tioga County commissioner Erick Coolidge; Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry director of Government Affairs Kevin Sunday; president of the Wyoming Chamber of Commerce Gina Severcool Suydam; PIOGA president Dan Weaver and API-PA associate director Jonathan Lutz discussed the pitfalls of the $4.5 billion "Restore PA" initiative and its negative impacts on Pennsylvania's economy and the state's natural gas industry.
Gov. Tom Wolf's "Restore Pennsylvania" fund sounds nice, but it's really just a vehicle to impose another severance tax.
With sales slumping because of the new Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax, Pepsi said Wednesday it will lay off 80 to 100 workers at three distribution plants that serve the city.
In his recent oped (The rich can take the hit - to fix the budget, they should pay their fair share), Marc Stier offers a short-sighted remedy for Pennsylvania's fiscal woes - just tax businesses more.
Incumbent state lawmakers running for re-election this year - especially old-timers who have put down roots in Harrisburg - won't be singing the praises of the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report on Pennsylvania's economy.
Taxes on tobacco and digital downloads and changes in gaming and wine sales will pay for $31.5 billion spending plan.