HARRISBURG, Pa., July 7, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry expressed extreme disappointment that the 2005-06 budget fails to address the needs of Pennsylvania's job creators.
"We recognize this was a difficult budget process," said Maura Donley, vice president of communications, "but we're disappointed that the necessary steps weren't taken in order to make Pennsylvania more attractive for job creation."
Donley noted that even the proposed state tax credit for businesses that create Health Savings Accounts was eliminated.
"To us, this was a no-brainer for the governor to support given the tremendous increase in health care costs. Clearly though, based on the revenue estimates out of the administration that were a moving target, and the threatened veto, he never supported this much needed provision for business and health care consumers," Donley said.
"Business acknowledges the unwavering work of those who understand the importance of a healthy business climate and who stood with us throughout this budget. Moving forward, the Chamber will continue to fight for the adoption of critical changes to our tax structure in order to stimulate additional job creation in the Commonwealth."
As part of its Agenda for Jobs, the Chamber supports reductions to the Corporate Net Income tax rate (CNI); elimination of the cap on net operating losses; and adoption of a single sales factor for CNI apportionment.
The Chamber was successful in keeping the governor's proposed mandatory unitary combined reporting from coming to fruition. This proposal merely shifted taxes among businesses and would have placed Pennsylvania at even more of a competitive disadvantage with other states. Despite the rhetoric of the administration and some outspoken Democrats, the effort to enact mandatory combined reporting went well beyond addressing the passive investment income concerns of the administration and would have raised substantial revenue and threatened existing jobs.
"If anything, this year's budget has highlighted the need for long-term solutions," Donley said. "With a budget surplus, Pennsylvania was provided an excellent opportunity to enact job-creating tax changes that would help relieve the pressures on our Medical Assistance programs by spurring job creation."
Donley referred to comments from House and Senate leaders that indicated the best way to get people off public assistance is to provide them with good jobs.
To support the Chamber's concerns, Donley referred to a recent report out of the Bureau of Economic Analysis that shows Pennsylvania's economic growth over the last couple of years was one of the worst in the country.
"Without positive tax changes other than the planned phase-out of the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax that was enacted back in 1999, Pennsylvania will continue to slide in economic growth as indicated by the fact we are ranked forty-third in economic performance over the last couple years.
"Maintaining the status quo merely secures Pennsylvania's uncompetitive job-creation climate and does nothing to ensure economic prosperity. As our members have said, we need real solutions for real jobs, and it's time for government to start listening to job creators for what's really needed to create good jobs."
In January of this year, The Chamber unveiled its Agenda for Jobs. The Agenda is a four-pronged strategy created by job creators designed for job creation. It calls for changes to Pennsylvania's tax structure, as well as meaningful reforms to our health care and legal systems, and labor laws.
The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry is the state's largest broad-based business association, with more than 9,000 members covering all 67 counties. More information is available on the Chamber's Web site at www.pachamber.org.
The PA Chamber of Business and Industry logo is available at: http://media.primezone.com/prs/single/?pkgid=353