Governor Shapiro: Hold the Line on the State Budget

By State Sen. Dawn Keefer and State Reps. Seth Grove, Kate Klunk, Wendy Fink, Mike Jones, Marc Anderson, and Joseph D’Orsie

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s latest budget proposal is a wake-up call: it could mean a 52% jump in your income taxes. That’s a massive hit to your paycheck.

But there’s a better option — a $47.9 billion budget that keeps your taxes steady, stops reckless spending, and puts Pennsylvania back on solid ground. We are asking you to tell your lawmakers: Hold the line at $47.9.

When Gov. Shapiro took office in 2022, he started with a $42.7 billion budget and a huge $13 billion cushion, mostly from temporary federal COVID relief dollars. The biggest question facing lawmakers back then was what to do with all the surplus funds. Save it for emergencies? Spend it on one-time projects or programs? Give it back to the taxpayers? Many of us had differing ideas, often crossing traditional party lines.

It gets worse: his new $51.47 billion budget would wipe out the rest of our savings by 2027-2028, leaving a gaping $6.85 billion hole. The only way to fill it? A 52% income tax hike. The Wall Street Journal called it “Josh Shapiro’s Pennsylvania Budget Trap.”

Anything over $47.9 billion is a recipe for disaster. It’s the kind of reckless spending that’s turned places like California into tax-and-debt nightmares. We don’t want that here. A $47.9 billion budget is our ticket to ending deficits, keeping a safety net for tough times, and protecting hardworking individuals like yourself from tax hikes.

Rep. Seth Grove represents the 196th Legislative District, serving portions of York County.