Business group warns of stealth tax hike in Rendell budget

There's a reason Gov. Ed Rendell is known throughout Pennsylvania as "Fast Eddie" or "Slick Eddie" or "Pinocchio Ed" or "Ed Spendell."

You have to watch this guy closely. He's addicted to spending (other people's money) and he likes taxes.

The Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association is warning that Rendell will attempt to increase the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax for 2009. The CSFT is a tax on business assets, which employers pay every year regardless of their earnings or losses, the business trade group says. A high CSFT puts Pennsylvania at a disadvantage in attracting new business to the state, according to the group.

Under current law, the CSFT rate fell to 2.89 mills on Jan. 1, 2008, and will drop to 1.89 mills on Jan. 1, 2009. Rendell wants to stop the phase-out, keeping the CSFT rate for 2009 at 2.49 mills.

"Most states have either a business income tax or a business assets tax – not both," said David N. Taylor, executive director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association. "Pennsylvania's one-two punch of CNI-plus-CSFT is a major competitive disadvantage, which should make eliminating the CSFT a critical priority."

Read the full press release from the PNA at the group's Web site, www.pamanufacturers.org