'We need to cut costs – not balance the budget on the backs of working families'

State Rep. Bob Mensch (R-Montgomery), a member of the House Republican Policy Committee Task Force on Budget and Economic Policy, issued the following statement as Gov. Ed Rendell traveled to Montgomery County Tuesday to promote a 16 percent state income tax to address projected state budget shortfalls:

"Raising taxes on Pennsylvania workers who are already hard hit by the economic crisis is not the answer," said Mensch. "We have thousands of residents who are losing jobs, working reduced hours, and settling for lower paying employment. Raising income taxes now will only slow the economic recovery and further demoralize workers."

"The Governor's claims that the increase would be temporary, but he proposes to repeal the increase in three years -- at the same time the state will experience a cut off of federal stimulus dollars. That only sets the stage for these increases to be extended by policymakers. We need to make the difficult budget decisions now, not pass them off on taxpayers and then face similar budget shortfalls in another three years."

"Instead, Governor Rendell has proposed a $29 billion budget that increases spending by 4.3 percent over this year. He just signed a $201 million contract with a Minnesota firm to develop controversial standardized graduation exams for high schools students, a move that was never approved by the legislature. And the Administration failed to close on bids for Marcellus shale drilling that could have resulted in $31 million in revenues for the state budget. We need to cut costs – not balance the budget on the backs of working families."

State Rep. Bob Mensch represents the 147th Legislative District in Montgomery County. The district consist of the townships of Douglass, Lower Frederick, Marlborough, and parts of New Hanover, Perkiomen, Salford, Skippack, Upper Frederick, Upper Hanover, and Upper Salford. The district also includes the boroughs of East Greenville, Green Lane, Pennsburg, Red Hill and Schwenksville.

Rep. Mensch is seeking consideration for the Republican nomination to run for the 24th District State Senate seat, which is being vacated by state Sen. Rob Wonderling. Wonderling is retiring in August to assume the role of president and chief executive of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.