Inflation Prompts Pennsylvania Legislators to Suggest Tax Holidays
February 22, 2022 | Pennsylvania
Some Pennsylvania lawmakers are proposing that the commonwealth offset some of the inflationary burden on residents by pausing certain taxes.
One bill State Senator Lisa Boscola (D-Bethlehem) is currently drafting would stop sales taxation in June and July 2022 at a time the senator says the state can afford to do so. In a memorandum seeking co-sponsors for her bill, she cited Governor Tom Wolf’s (D) recent declaration that Pennsylvania will amass a budget surplus for Fiscal Year 2021-22 of over $2 billion and a similarly large surplus for the following year. Since budget years end on June 30, the legislation is thus timed to spread the financial loss to the state over both budget cycles.
What is unaffordable, Boscola insisted, is the present rise in ordinary Pennsylvanians’ cost of living. She noted that annual U.S. inflation reached 7.5% last month, a four-decade high.
“The tax holiday is intended to help provide some temporary relief to everyone,” she wrote. “Whether it is working families, recent college graduates or retirees, price increases have negatively impacted everyone’s bottom line. I believe we can do something to help Pennsylvanians.”
Boscola’s proposal pausing the commonwealth’s 6% sales tax would not affect Philadelphia’s 2% sales tax nor Allegheny County’s 1% sales tax…. (Excerpt from Pennsylvania Daily Star)
