Governor Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania legislature finalized the state budget before the beginning of the new fiscal year on July 1, 2019. The budget does not include any tax increases or new taxes.
Governor Wolf had pressed for a severance tax in his February budget proposal, but was unable to secure the tax with Republicans controlling the House and Senate. Raising the state minimum wage to $12 an hour and tethering it to inflation was a proposal Wolf supported even before he took office, but this amendment was also denied and did not make it into the final bill.
The budget does include significant increases in spending for education and healthcare services. Funding for the popular Educational Improvement Tax Credits did increase by $25 million after the Governor vetoed efforts to increase it by $100 million in June.
