PA Business Council Applauds Corbett Budget

Pennsylvania Business Council
116 Pine Street, Suite 201
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101
Phone: 717-238-1764
www.pabusinesscouncil.org

Contact: David W. Patti (Cell: 717-329-7207)

For Immediate Release
March 8, 2011
PENNSYLVANIA BUSINESS COUNCIL APPLAUDS CORBETT BUDGET

The Pennsylvania Business Council – the state’s premier political and public policy advocacy association for the executive leaders of the Commonwealth’s largest employers – today listened with approval as Governor Tom Corbett addressed a joint session of the General Assembly pledging to lead Pennsylvania by four core principles:

• Fiscal discipline;
• Limited government;
• Free enterprise; and
• Reform.

PBC President & CEO David W. Patti congratulated Governor Corbett for a spending plan that lives up to campaign promises and meets tough economic conditions head-on. "I think he summed it up well," said Patti, "when Governor Corbett simply observed, ‘We get the picture. It’s your money.’"

According to Patti, a recent survey of the C-level executives who make-up the PBC Policy Roundtable showed their top public policy concern to be Pennsylvania’s fiscal and budgetary issues. "So many of the other issues that face our state and damage our competitive climate are driven by fiscal issues," said Patti.

The business organization leader gave Corbett high marks for making the case that fiscal discipline and limited government will result in job creation. "Government was not meant to be the answer for jobs," said Corbett. Patti said the Governor identified good strategies to make Pennsylvania a state in which jobs are retained and created. Hallmarks of Corbett’s speech that Patti identified as strong job creation incentives include:

• Enactment of joint and several reform;
• Elimination of the Capital Stock and Franchise Taxes;
• Increase in the Research and Development Tax Credit;
• Consolidation economic development programs into a competitive framework; and
• Divestiture of the state-owned liquor stores.

Patti acknowledged that his members are likely to lose funding for pet programs. "We’re linking arms and moving forward together," he said. Our members are all leaders of non-profits and community groups. We reminded Roundtable members in a recent meeting, "We cannot call for less spending and then sign letters asking for more spending for the symphony, or zoo, or library. These are all very laudable efforts that do good work, but we have to be consistent."

PBC’s affiliated political action committee – PEG PAC – was the first interest group to endorse Corbett’s candidacy for governor in December 2009. "We had many long talks with Tom Corbett and other candidates for the state’s highest issue. We were convinced that Tom Corbett understood the central needs of Pennsylvania and possessed the political courage and personal integrity to see his proposals turned into public policy," commented Patti. "We are pleased to find our assessment validated."

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