Why do we let our politicians exert so much added pressure on the state budget process? The Assembly and governor can’t seem to consider a straightforward spending plan without attaching issues that complicate the plan and stir up mud against any accidental clarity.

Last year’s budget got bogged down amid proposals for a severance tax on natural gas, higher gasoline taxes assessed at the pump, and steps toward privatization of the state liquor monopoly.

This year, Gov. Tom Wolf wants to attach a minimum-wage increase to his proposed $32.3 billion budget. Not the 100 percent increase some Democratic state governors were pushing last year, which would push federal minimum wage, currently at $7.25 an hour, to $15. He’s proposing far less than that — only 66 percent, to a mere $12 an hour.

Yes, we state that sarcastically.

For all our Pennsylvania zeal to attach legislation to our budget, we now lag behind every other neighboring state by adhering to the federal minimum wage of $7.25. By comparison, it’s $8.15 in Ohio; $8.25 in Delaware; $8.44 in New Jersey; $8.76 in Maryland and West Virginia; and $9.70 in New York.

While $7.25 is admittedly out of the market, $12 in unrealistically high. It would be the nation’s highest. Wolf says he is tying the proposal to his budget as a way to provide more tax revenue. He might as well say he’s tying it to the budget to ensure its defeat in a Republican Legislature.

More revenue was the same reason we’re told that Pennsylvanians must pay more for gasoline. Our gasoline tax is the nation’s highest. According to the online gas pricing website gasbuddy.com, the average current price of a gallon of gas in Pennsylvania, $2.53, compares with: $2.12 in Maryland; $1.93 in Ohio; $2.05 in West Virginia; $2.08 in New Jersey; and $2.09 in New York and Delaware. That’s 40 cents to 60 cents less per gallon in surrounding states than it is here. It’s why we wait to gas up when driving out of state, and we fill up again before returning.

Taken together, the price differences across state lines are astounding. Now the governor proposes that the Legislature agree to price entry-level labor beyond above the going market, just as it did with gasoline.

It doesn’t take a genius to predict that people will leave the state to buy labor — also known as create jobs — the same way we buy gas out of state whenever we can.

Maybe it is time to adjust the minimum wage. Just set it on par with Ohio and Maryland. And do it separately from the budget process.

When Wolf was inaugurated 25 months ago today, on Jan. 20, 2015, he said this:

“For the next four years, my administration will be dedicated to three simple goals: jobs that pay; schools that teach; and government that works — one that is worthy of our trust.”

Maybe if he approached these goals one at a time — starting with government that works — we might realize one or more of them.