It’s Groundhog Day, Harrisburg-style
Trick-or-Treat came early in Harrisburg.
The treat? Well, if you like gambling, you’re going to love the funding mechanism that our elected leaders finally came up with to pay for that $32 billion spending plan they approved last summer.
And to think it only took them four months to come up with it.
As you probably have already guessed, it’s absent any new taxes. For already overburdened taxpayers, that is actually good news. There is no hike in either the sales or personal income tax. That means more money in every Pennsylvanian’s pocket.
But here’s the trick. It also means at least one more year where Pennsylvania will remain the only large natural gas-producing state that does not levy a severance tax on this precious natural resource.
Yes, the industry does pay the “impact fee” put in place a few years back by then Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who like so many Republicans in Harrisburg these days, never met a tax he would not oppose.
Corbett ran on a “no tax hike” platform, so he concocted the “impact fee” instead. But it pales in comparison to the revenue that a severance tax would bring in to a state that year after year goes hat in hand looking for desperately needed money to fund basic services such as education.
So what did Harrisburg come up with?
The same things they always do. They’re backing a huge expansion in legal gambling in the state. Get ready for online gaming, betting on fantasy sports, and video gaming terminals at some truck spots. You’ll even be able to gamble at the airport.
But if you’re a local barkeep who was banking on video gaming terminals to bail out your struggling business, you’re going to be crying in your beer. You got shut out of the gambling gravy train.
Then again, don’t expect to see any of these so-called VGTs in Delco. Counties that host a casino, such as Harrah’s on the Chester waterfront, can block any locations inside their borders.
Speaking of Harrah’s, they and the other existing casinos in the state can apply to get into the online gaming business. Of course to do so they will first have to pony up a $10 million license fee. They might need to swallow hard and take that leap, because they’re about to face more competition for those remaining gambling dollars. The plan will allow for 10 minicasino locations across the state.
There’s even something in it for Gus, the world’s second most famous groundhog. The state lottery will be able to offer keno and other online games.
Gus’ cousin Punxsutawney Phil must be laughing himself silly. It’s just like the movie that added to Phil’s legend. You know, “Groundhog Day,” where Bill Murray played a hapless weather man sent to the to the town to cover the hoopla surrounding the weather-forecasting rodent’s special day, only to find himself living the same day over and over again.
Same goes for the Legislature. Every time they find themselves in need of a fiscal boost, they turn to gaming.
And of course, something else.
Yes, the state will borrow a boatload of money. Which, in a way, is just one more gamble. This time they’re going to tap into the money from the tobacco trust fund. To the tune of about $1.2 billion. Gov. Wolf already has indicated he wants to borrow money from the profits posted by the Liquor Control Board.
Speaking of the LCB, they must be popping the corks at the state’s booze agency, having fended off Republican Speaker Mike Turzai and Republicans who would like to blow up the state’s archaic method of selling alcohol an turn the entire process over to private industry.
What is missing from all of this is a solid, recurring revenue source. You know, the kind of money that could be found in a severance tax on the state’s natural gas industry.
Don’t be terribly surprised next summer when state legislators are once again staring at a sea of red ink.
Like we said, they should make “Groundhog Day” the official movie of our state Legislature.
They just keep doing the same thing over and over again.
In the meantime, the state’s fiscal woes will continue to pile up.
Wolf sounds like a man who has had enough.
“I’m sick and tired of special-interest politicians, self-interest, political games trumping the public interest here in Harrisburg,” an exasperated governor said this week.
Sounds like a guy who is running for re-election.
Oh, that’s right. He is. As will every member of the state House in November 2018.
Like we said, over and over again.
Groundhog Day, the Harrisburg edition.