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Taxpayers tell Republican state representatives ‘no new taxes’

FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP, YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Pennsylvania taxpayers are speaking out about the spending plan that will be used to balance next year’s state...

FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP, YORK COUNTY, Pa. -- Pennsylvania taxpayers are speaking out about the spending plan that will be used to balance next year's state budget.

A group of Republican state representatives met with some of those taxpayers Tuesday to listen to their concerns.

The group 'Taxpayer's Caucus,' which is made up of members from both the House and Senate, formed after the 2015-2016 budget, became stuck in limbo.

Several representatives from across the state came to listen to what taxpayers think about the senate's proposal to balance the state's budget.

There's one question that many Pennsylvania taxpayers may have about the state's budget crisis.

TaxpayerJudi Fenicle said "our fixed costs, they keep going up, so it's really a hard budgeting act trying to get this all worked out, but my point is, why doesn't our government do the same thing."

Republican state representative Dawn Keefer (Cumberland/York) hosted a meeting with constituents here in Fairview Township, York County to hear what voters have to say about the state's budget.

"I thought this would give them a venue to hear everything out, hear what's in the plan, to ask their questions, and then go from there, before the house does anything else," Keefer said.

State representative Seth Grove said "what do they feel about it. What do they feel they're getting out of the increased expenditures in the state budget, so we're trying to gauge constituencies, people who have to pay those taxes moving forward, whether you're a business or a residential taxpayer."

Pennsylvania senators voted in July with bipartisan support to pay for the state's budget gap by introducing several new taxes.

Those include a cellphone tax, gas and electric bill taxes, online retail taxes, and taxes on natural gas drillers in the Marcellus shale.

Commonwealth Foundation vice-president Nathan Benefield said "this is about as broad base a tax as you can impose. There's a push against doing broad base taxes, but this affects almost every family in Pennsylvania."

"When you talk about natural gas, that affects every business, every school, every county office, almost every residential homeowner, because you have some kind of heating fuel you use," Grove said.

It would be difficult to find anyone in the crowd who is in favor of new taxes.

"They keep imposing taxes on us as a fix for their inept abilities, and frankly, I think I speak for all citizens. We're a little tired of it," Finicle said.

After hearing what taxpayers had to say, members of the House Appropriations Committee will go through the senate's spending plan proposal line by line next week to figure out what changes could be made and what they should do next.

 

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