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Rendell Touts Government Action On Economy
By Bradley Vasoli, The Bulletin
Philadelphia — At the Kimmel Center yesterday, WHYY host Marty Moss-Coane discussed the national economy’s continuing downward slide with Gov. Ed Rendell, D. To the extent that this state’s economy is any better off, the governor was more than ready to claim credit.
“We’re in a little bit better shape than almost every other state in the union,” Mr. Rendell said at “A Conversation With the Governor,” an event held by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Statewide unemployment stood at 6.7 percent last December, while the nation meanwhile endures a 7.2 -percent rate, the highest in 16 years.
Mr. Rendell said Pennsylvania has been able to weather the economic downturn better than many other states by managing what he called “fairly constrained budget growth” on the commonwealth level. He cited the $500 million in spending cuts he made to reduce what he now expects to become a $2.3 billion state-budget hole.
The governor’s critics think his service in Harrisburg since 2003 has been characterized by budget growth that wasn’t so “constrained,” noting year’s state budget was over 40 percent larger than the budget six years ago.
Mr. Rendell said the spending he did approve, particularly the “stimulus” he made part of his 2004 budget, has much to do with Pennsylvania’s ability to retain more jobs than most other states. When the state spent $2.8 billion to spur commercial projects that year, he said, it leveraged $8.5 billion in private business spending. He said he believes a combination of spending cuts and federal aid to states will wipe out the state deficit on their own, without necessitating “broad-based” tax increases, a solution to which he has resorted in the past. In 2004, he raised the personal income tax from 2.8 percent to 3.07 percent and proposed seven tax increases in 2007, though the Republican-controlled state Senate defeated them.
A few proposed tax hikes on unhealthy items — “sin taxes” — will make their way into Mr. Rendell’s budget address on Feb. 4. In particular, he wants to suggest the state tax smokeless tobacco and cigars. Pennsylvania is the only state that does not tax these products.
“There will be some taxes I’ll be recommending,” he said.
Mr. Rendell also took credit for another priority he saw through to implementation, one that has many Philadelphians apprehensive: the legalization of slots gambling.
“Gaming has been an absolute, rip-roaring success in Pennsylvania,” he said, adding that many senior citizens in the state have gotten substantial property tax relief as a result of bountiful gambling revenues.
He said no visible social problems have resulted from bringing slots facilities to Pennsylvania, dismissing those who have criticized Louis DeNaples, the owner of Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County. Dauphin County prosecutors are looking into allegations Mr. DeNaples has had associations with organized crime, but Mr. Rendell noted the casino owner holds many public licenses and told critics to “get a life.”
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
“We’re in a little bit better shape than almost every other state in the union,” Mr. Rendell said at “A Conversation With the Governor,” an event held by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.
Statewide unemployment stood at 6.7 percent last December, while the nation meanwhile endures a 7.2 -percent rate, the highest in 16 years.
Mr. Rendell said Pennsylvania has been able to weather the economic downturn better than many other states by managing what he called “fairly constrained budget growth” on the commonwealth level. He cited the $500 million in spending cuts he made to reduce what he now expects to become a $2.3 billion state-budget hole.
The governor’s critics think his service in Harrisburg since 2003 has been characterized by budget growth that wasn’t so “constrained,” noting year’s state budget was over 40 percent larger than the budget six years ago.
Mr. Rendell said the spending he did approve, particularly the “stimulus” he made part of his 2004 budget, has much to do with Pennsylvania’s ability to retain more jobs than most other states. When the state spent $2.8 billion to spur commercial projects that year, he said, it leveraged $8.5 billion in private business spending. He said he believes a combination of spending cuts and federal aid to states will wipe out the state deficit on their own, without necessitating “broad-based” tax increases, a solution to which he has resorted in the past. In 2004, he raised the personal income tax from 2.8 percent to 3.07 percent and proposed seven tax increases in 2007, though the Republican-controlled state Senate defeated them.
A few proposed tax hikes on unhealthy items — “sin taxes” — will make their way into Mr. Rendell’s budget address on Feb. 4. In particular, he wants to suggest the state tax smokeless tobacco and cigars. Pennsylvania is the only state that does not tax these products.
“There will be some taxes I’ll be recommending,” he said.
Mr. Rendell also took credit for another priority he saw through to implementation, one that has many Philadelphians apprehensive: the legalization of slots gambling.
“Gaming has been an absolute, rip-roaring success in Pennsylvania,” he said, adding that many senior citizens in the state have gotten substantial property tax relief as a result of bountiful gambling revenues.
He said no visible social problems have resulted from bringing slots facilities to Pennsylvania, dismissing those who have criticized Louis DeNaples, the owner of Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County. Dauphin County prosecutors are looking into allegations Mr. DeNaples has had associations with organized crime, but Mr. Rendell noted the casino owner holds many public licenses and told critics to “get a life.”
Bradley Vasoli can be reached at bvasoli@thebulletin.us
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