Rep. Swanger blasts Rendell's 'insatiable appetite for spending'

State Rep. RoseMarie Swanger, R-102nd Dist., sent the following Letter to the Editor to her hometown newspaper, the Lebanon Daily News about the state's budget stalemate:

Rendell bats 1.000, unfortunately

Going seven-for-seven is all-star material — if you are a baseball player. But for the seventh time in seven years under Gov. Ed Rendell, we do not have a state budget, and the deadline for having one in effect has passed.

In years past, the debate has been based on money we have. This year, the differences lie in dollars we do not have. While the current economy has not helped the situation, this governor's insatiable appetite for spending has contributed to the shortfall, a term that seems insufficient when describing a $3.2 billion figure.

We as a General Assembly are now charged with making some difficult financial decisions. On a larger scale, they are much like the decisions you as residents of the Lebanon Valley are making every day.

There appear to be two possible solutions to the dilemma — raise revenues or cut spending. In the average household, the answer to this problem is the latter, with the making of sacrifices and doing more with less. That should also be the case in Harrisburg.

Unfortunately, the Rendell administration's solution is to atone for years of irresponsible spending by asking you to pay even more through increased taxes. The governor and many House Democrats are advocating a rise in the personal-income tax. They have trivialized the act by saying that it will cost the average Pennsylvania family less than $5 per week and that our current personal-income tax is among the nation’s lowest. For the record, the Washington-based Tax Foundation lists Pennsylvania as having the 10th highest state and local tax burden.

If paying more taxes does not fit your idea of a solution to our problem, I suggest you log on to my Web site, RepSwanger.com, where you will find StopPATaxHike.com. This site offers you an opportunity to voice your opposition to the Rendell tax-and-spend plan. You have the option of signing a petition to oppose a tax increase, contributing written comments on the idea and even submitting a video version of your discontent.

While House Republicans have put the site together, this is obviously a bipartisan issue. Pennsylvanians of all parties have one request when it comes to state government, and it is a very reasonable one — do as we are doing and live within your means.

Rep. RoseMarie Swanger
102nd Legislative District