Commissioner Bruce Castor has preemptively released an alternative to Governor Corbett’s budget address this afternoon. The full text of the press release is below.

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HARRISBURG, PA. (Feb. 04, 2013) — Montgomery County Commissioner and prospective gubernatorial candidate Bruce Castor (R-Lederach) today outlined what he looks forward to hearing in Governor Corbett’s State Budget address to put the Commonwealth on a path to prosperity, and Pennsylvanians on the road to a better future.

Since Gov. Corbett’s agenda took effect in July of 2011, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate has worsened from 7.8 percent to 7.9 percent – even though unemployment nationally has improved from 9.0 to 7.9 percent (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). While during the same period, the burden of state and local taxation upon Pennsylvanians has gotten heavier.

“Restoring Pennsylvania to its rightful place as the most prosperous state in America is within our reach,” Castor said. “But getting there will take the willingness to stand up to entrenched roadblocks, even if they are within one’s own party.”

These items, Castor hopes, will be a priority for Gov. Corbett:

• Enacting a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) to cap spending by all levels of government — state to local, including school districts — at the rate of inflation plus the rate of population growth.  This will force government to eliminate waste, and live within its means. Pennsylvania is in the minority of states whose power to spend taxpayers’ money is unlimited.
• Repealing the Rendell tax hike, which would reduce the Personal Income Tax from 3.07% to 2.80%.  This will give working Pennsylvanians more money to spend on their own priorities. Pennsylvanians bear the 10^th heaviest burden of state and local taxes in the country, a ranking that hasn’t changed since Gov. Corbett took office.
• Reducing the Corporate Net Income (CNI) Tax from 9.99 to 7.99. Pennsylvania’s corporate tax is the 2^nd worst in the nation, chasing job creators to other states. To date, Gov. Corbett has not lowered the CNI’s overall rate.
• Tightening Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation and Unemployment Compensation programs, which are among the most expensive, liberally allocated, and defrauded in the nation.  York-based Penn Waste, Inc. alone paid out nearly a half-million dollars in fraudulent workers’ comp claims this year.  Nearly $700 million in wrongful UC claims were shelled out last year.  Estimated savings to the Commonwealth would be $1.5 billion annually.
• Protecting workers’ freedom and paychecks by abolishing forced union membership, and ending automatic deduction of public union dues by the government.  States with voluntary union membership have higher employment rates and higher wages (after adjusting for the cost of living). Paycheck protection measures ensure that union workers have the greatest amount of take-home pay possible while holding unions fully accountable for every dollar of their members’ money they spend.
• Replacing Prevailing Wage with Market Wage, as 18 states have done. This will save taxpayers an estimated $2 billion.
• Opting out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and instead giving enrollees meaningful choices of customized managed care plans, as has been done successfully in Florida. Estimated savings to the taxpayers would be $3 billion annually.
• Ending corporate welfare.  Estimated savings to the taxpayer would be $380 million annually.
• Placing all new government hires — state, county, local and school district — into a unified defined-contribution pension plan, as well as capping future benefits of current enrollees. Some legislators have already accrued pensions ranging from 100 percent ($82,000) to 150 percent $125,000) of their salary, or more. The buck needs to stop there.
• Eliminating property taxation. The property tax is un-American and the least fair way to fund public schools. It is a barrier to home ownership for younger Pennsylvanians, and it is forcing seniors out of the homes they worked most of their lives to pay for.
• Creating Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) for every parent in the Commonwealth to have maximum choice and flexibility in the education of their children. We must also provide merit pay for teachers who excel, and abolish teacher strikes.
• Selling the state liquor stores and using the upfront proceeds to pay down state debt, in order to minimize the pain of impending massive tax increases.

Key to enacting these policies is reforming the culture in Harrisburg, putting the business of the people first.  Therefore, Castor encourages Gov. Corbett to also push for term limits in the General Assembly, as well as Rep. Dan Truitt’s (R-Chester) proposal to end per diems.
“These priorities, so warmly embraced by practical, commonsense conservatives, can be achieved with vigorous leadership from our governor,” Castor said. “I am confident that Gov. Corbett, using the same skills and energy he employed in choosing our candidates for 2012, will gain these legislative victories this spring, energizing Pennsylvanians and paving the way to the revitalization of our Commonwealth.”
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