Newspaper: 'No confidence' in Ed Rendell

Let's sum up Gov. Ed Rendell's fiscal accomplishments over the past seven years. In his first year in office, Rendell signed the second biggest income tax increase in Pennsylvania history. With more revenue coming, Rendell went on a spending spree. Rendell has increased state spending by 40 percent over the past six years, an increase of nearly $8 billion. The current General Fund budget is projected to finish $3.2 billion in the red by June 30. Now Rendell wants to raise the state income tax again, this time by 16 percent just to dig himself out of the fiscal hole he dug.

An editorial in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review does a good job of summing up Rendell's ability when it comes to taxes and spending.

From the editorial:

Mr. Rendell's proposed "temporary" half-percentage-point increase in the personal income tax would be a jobs killer and only suck more money out of the economy.

The latter are all too willing to entertain the false profits of wholesale gambling. What a sucker's bet it is to promote supposed fiscal responsibility with gamblers' losses.

Right-sizing Pennsylvania government was overdue well before the recession hit. Failure to do so now could well be fatal.

Today's closed-door Cabinet session is not an encouraging sign. Neither do what we roundly expect to be closed-door negotiations between the Rendell administration and legislative leaders inspire any confidence.

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.