May 28th, 2009

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Governor Rendell says that although the state may be able to avoid broad-based tax increases this year, there may need to be an increase in the future if revenue numbers continue to drop.  Rendell also said that he did not want to leave this decision up to the next governor, as his term expires in 2011.

Staff for House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans had hinted that an income tax increase would be “the smartest way” to reduce a predicted $3.2 billion budget deficit, but Evans was not yet willing to introduce it.

After announcing a $10 million bridge rehabilitation in Rochester, Beaver County, the governor lashed out at the $27.3 billion budget drafted by Senate Republicans as a “non-starter from the beginning … just a bunch of ideological posturing.” It did not include a tax increase, but Rendell said it “eviscerated” too many development initiatives.

Rendell, a Democrat, said he would announce hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to his own $29 billion budget proposal next week, but emphasized he wouldn’t touch funding for programs that create jobs.

“We have to get as lean as we can without hurting the economy,” he said. “I won’t let any major cuts happen on things that are economic development projects. You don’t cut stuff like that at a time like this.”