State legislators representing the county raised concerns about Gov. Tom Wolf's proposed 2021-22 budget.

Wolf's proposed $40.2 billion general fund budget, which he unveiled in a pretaped video Wednesday, includes a $3.1 billion increase in state spending, a personal income tax rate increase from 3.07% to 4.49% for high earners and the imposition of a Marcellus Shale extraction tax.

The income tax proposal revolves around increasing the rate to raise an estimated $4 billion a year, a 25% increase. By expanding low-income exemptions in the tax, two-thirds of income-tax payers would pay less or the same amount, while the top one-third of earners would pay more, Wolf administration officials said.

Sen. Joe Pittman, R-41st, said raising the income tax would affect one-third of all residents, and more than a million small business, which would see tax rates increase by 46.3% because business taxes are based on the income tax rate.

The proposed income tax increase combined with Wolf's ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and his proposed minimum wage hike would be devastating for many family operations that are already struggling to stay financially solvent, Pittman said.

Wolf has proposed a tax on natural gas produced every year in the seven years he has been in office, but the Legislature has rejected it each time.

“That may have been one of the most tone-deaf infomercials that I have ever heard. For the governor to stand before us behind a TV screen and propose a massive (increase) in the PIT and to yet again propose a severance tax on natural gas in this economic time and climate is asinine,” Pittman said.

Rep. Marci Mustello, R-11th, said she will not support the budget proposal.

“I am amazed that the governor is seeking to put the state at financial risk by proposing more spending, more taxes and more debt. His plan is $2.76 billion more than last fiscal year, which is a 7.4% increase,” she said.

She said Wolf's plan is to generate $7 billion for new spending by raising the income tax rate.

“Most small businesses — the ones he arbitrarily forced to close — pay the PIT and not the Corporate Net Income Tax. You can see that the governor's plan is to solely cut taxes on big corporations, but raise taxes on families and small local employers,” Mustello said.

She said those who would pay higher taxes under the proposal are singles earning more than $49,000 a year, married couples without children earning more than $64,000 a year, married couples with two children earning more than $84,000 a year and single parents with two children earning more than $69,000 a year.

Wolf's proposal to increase the minimum wage to $12 per hour by July 1, and annually increase the wage by 50 cents until it reaches $15 per hour by 2027, will devastate the economy, Mustello said.

She also criticized the proposed natural gas severance tax.

“The governor is once again singling out an industry that creates jobs in our area, creates essential products, lowers energy prices and lessens harmful emissions. The natural gas industry, located in Western Pennsylvania, will have generated more than $2 billion in impact fees by July, benefiting infrastructure and conservation projects in all 67 counties,” Mustello said.

Sen. Elder Vogel, R-47th, said the budget proposal hurts workers and small businesses.

“An 8.2% increase in state spending is completely out of line with the current economic climate in Pennsylvania. We are coming off a year when 1.5 million Pennsylvanians were unemployed, and we are nowhere near the end of the pandemic. His plan to increase the PIT to cover the costs places an onerous burden on workers and especially small businesses, many of which are already in dire financial straits,” Vogel said.

The natural gas extraction fee in Wolf's proposal would result in job losses, Vogel said.

“Further taxing gas extraction would not produce the revenue he projects and would more likely devastate the industry and cost jobs.”

The budget proposal would eliminate $5 million for broadband expansion, even though the funding is mandated by Act 132 of 2020 as well as millions of dollars for agricultural programs, Vogel said.

“We recognize the value of these important programs, even if the administration doesn't,” he said.

The proposed cuts to agriculture funding include $2.2 million from agriculture research, $553,000 from agriculture promotion and education exports, $474,000 from hardwoods research and promotion, $215,000 from the livestock show, $215,000 from the Open Dairy show, $494,000 from food marketing and research, $1 million from livestock and consumer health protection, and $2 million from the Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission, Vogel said.