Published in the Bucks County Courier Times, by Frank Mashett

August 20, 2014

Tom Wolf has shown his fangs early in this fall’s election by announcing he would propose to raise the personal income tax. He would also raise the percentage that the state contributes to public school funding to 50 percent and increase taxes on natural gas drilling companies. He did state that the personal income tax increase would be contingent upon a state-mandated dollar-for-dollar reduction in personal property taxes. Shocking that a Democrat is proposing increased taxes and increased government spending. When has any Democratic government cut spending and demanded that government live within its means?

Wolf would propose that wage-earners below a certain income level pay no income tax. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, the median income in 2011 for a household was $52,267. My bet is that Wolf will set the no-income-tax limit at $55,000 in an attempt to capture 51 percent of the households in Pennsylvania. That gives Santa Wolf a great base for his election campaign.

He goes on to state that those in the “middle class” as defined by Wolf, between $70,000 to $90,000, would have a reduction in their income tax. Per the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue 2011 income tax statistics, filings above $99,999 accounted for only 13 percent of personal income tax returns. Confiscate from the makers and give to the takers, and it is a small enough percentage of the electorate that it does not matter to Wolf. In order to explain his proposal, Wolf relies on the same tired refrain used by Obama, Reid and Pelosi: “It’s about fairness.” In other words, they want equality of outcomes, not equality of opportunity. The whole proposal smacks of class warfare and an attempt to drive voters to turn out in what looks like a tough year for Democrats nationally.

Raising the percentage of the state’s funding for public schools is nothing more than redistribution of wealth from the suburbs to the bottomless pit called the Philadelphia School District and the teachers’ union. It is once again a political ploy to try to turn out voters in Philadelphia and the union. Wolf knows he must turn out the vote and win big in Philadelphia if he is to win the governor’s race. The Philadelphia School District has deep-rooted problems, and more money will not solve them.

Finally, a shocker from a left-wing Democrat: Raise the corporate tax on the evil natural gas drillers. I am surprised that a supposed successful businessman doesn’t understand the ramifications of raising taxes. The data is clear that when you raise a tax on some activity, you get less of that activity. In this case, less job creation. What everyone must understand is that a business does not pay taxes; individual people pay taxes.

When taxes are raised on business, there are four possible reactions. The business will pass along the tax in the price of the goods or services it produces. If the business cannot raise prices, it will cut costs, and in any business the largest costs are the employees. The business will either reduce the number of employees or not hire additional employees. Finally, the business will either close or move. The gas industry has already stated it would cut production in Pennsylvania and move to Ohio and West Virginia, where there are ample drilling opportunities for oil and natural gas.

Tom Wolf is just another 1960s left-wing Democrat with the same tired message of tax the rich. Those of you with household incomes between the median of $52,267 and $90,000 should not feel comfortable that you will fare well under a Wolf administration. Remember, the “rich” always have the ultimate option that many of us do not have, and that is to move as they have done in other states where the tax-the-rich mentality has taken over. As tax revenues then fall short of projections, the increased tax rates creep into lower and lower income levels until those of you who thought you were immune are suddenly considered the rich.

This fall, don’t fall for a Wolf in wolf’s clothing.

(Frank Mashett, "Tom Wolf's same tired message: Tax the rich," Bucks Courier Times, 8/20/14)