By Caomhin
Give Fast Eddie some credit, I suppose, when he is determined to do something, he won’t give up on it. Of course, what he is determined to do is continue to harm Pennsylvanians by assaulting their bottom line while fattening up the commonwealth’s budget. His new “budget” plan was announced today:
Under the plan, Rendell proposes reducing the state sales tax rate from 6 percent to 4 percent, but to extend it to 74 services and other transactions that are currently exempt, including professional laundry, candy, gum and personal hygiene products. His plan would keep intact some major exemptions, including those on groceries, clothing and prescription drugs.
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He also is reviving tax increase proposals he has offered before, including extending the tobacco tax to cigars and smokeless tobacco and adding a new severance tax on natural gas extraction to capitalize on the exploration industry’s hot pursuit of the Marcellus Shale gas reserve.
Rendell really has it out for the natural gas industry and the ability of Pennsylvanians to heat their homes and live in comfort with lower energy bills. His bitterness at keeping our homes at 65 degrees during winter is amazing. However, for a full list of things he is looking to tax, have a look here. Some highlights:
Caskets and Burial Vaults
Coal
Electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning service fees
Financial Institution Fees
Firewood
Flags
Funeral Parlors, Crematories, and Death Care Services
Residential Electric Service
Textbooks
Really consider that list for a moment. Rendell wants to tax you simply for living and dying. Think about it. We here in Pennsylvania heat our homes with either natural gas, coal, oil, wood, or electric, all subject to new taxes under his sub moronic plan. We all use electricity, so that’s a double whammy for many and a sucker punch in the gut for the rest. Want to buy an American Flag to proudly display outside your home? Rendell would like you to pay extra. Have a bank? Fast Eddie would like a cut. Like to learn? He wants to tax your textbooks. When you pass away he also wants to put the clamps on your family for taking care of your final expenses for honoring you with dignity and being paid your final respects. There is nothing this man will not try to profit from and it’s disgusting.
For other budget “highlights,” feel free to click here. This train wreck of a plan must be stopped at all costs. This is a governor who could care less about the people of Pennsylvania and his contempt for us is clear. Facing a budget crisis that he created, his reckless, idiotic, and frivolous increases in spending and taxes, have handicapped the ability of Pennsylvanians’ to increase their standard of living. So badly has he damaged this Commonwealth’s finances, that he is begging for money from the federal government, looking to tax nearly everything in existence, and has caused financial problems that will hound us for years. His casino plans were a disaster, what should have been something to benefit Pennsylvanians has done little for us. He doesn’t even have the common decency to keep spending flat facing a “fiscal tsunami” that he created by keeping spending flat and making difficult cuts because he is too much of a coward and incompetent to do so. Come November, when I have the honor of voting in a Rendell-free election, knowing full well that no matter what happens, Fast Eddie will be leaving Harrisburg shortly, then I’ll breathe a bit easier. Until then, I will not stand idly by as Rendell attempts to further damage our great Commonwealth.
