By Tricia Pursell
The Daily Item
—
SELINSGROVE — State government must reduce taxes and become fiscally responsible to help keep businesses like L/B Water Service in Selinsgrove thriving, says Tom Corbett, state attorney general and Republican gubernatorial candidate.
Pennsylvania has the resources and the people to be No. 1 in the nation in job creation, Corbett said, but that starts with good government leaders.
During a tour Friday, Corbett praised the Selinsgrove company for its business practices, including buying many products manufactured in Pennsylvania.
The company began in 1970 with a single salesman working out of a construction company office.
L/B now has seven locations and more than 100 employees.
“The next governor has to create an economic climate to allow business to grow,” Corbett said.
Gov. Ed Rendell’s administration only stifled them, he said.
Under Rendell, taxes have been raised, and spending and the state debt have increased by 40 percent, he said.
“One of the central problems of Harrisburg isn’t a revenue problem,” Corbett said. “It’s a spending problem.”
Jobs lost under Rendell’s leadership now total 237,000, and unemployment in Pennsylvania is at 9.2 percent — the worst since the 1980s. The state also ranks at the top in the nation for taxing businesses.
Corbett said he has signed a “no-tax pledge.”
“My opponent has not done that, and I don’t believe he will,” he said of Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the Democratic candidate for governor.
Corbett also plans to reduce regulations that stifle business growth, while also recognizing the importance of protecting the environment. It’s the private sector, he added, that does the most to boost the economy.
Corbett supports tax reform, such as reducing the corporate net income tax, which is the second-highest in the nation; repealing the estate tax and removing the net operating loss cap. He also supports regulatory and legal reforms.
Corbett’s touts fiscal discipline, limited government and free enterprise.
Choices will be made, he promised Friday, to develop a “common-sense budget” in which the revenue at least equals spending.
Referencing the state Department of Welfare, Corbett said the Medicaid department admitted to a 3 percent to 4 percent error rate, meaning about $3 million to $4 million was given to people who didn’t deserve it.
A separate audit by Jack Wagner, state auditor general, revealed a 14 percent error rate, Corbett said.
Corbett’s spokesman, Kevin Harley, said the candidate also supports reducing the number of unnecessary cars in the state fleet and doing what he has done as the attorney general.
The attorney general’s office, Harley said, is smaller than it was when Corbett took office, is facing a hiring freeze and several offices have been closed.
