Jozwiak on State Budget: Prioritizes Safety, Uses Taxpayer Dollars Responsibly, No Tax Increases
HARRISBURG – Rep. Barry Jozwiak (R-Berks) today issued the following statement in response to the House approving a $42.8 billion Fiscal Year 2022-23 state budget on Thursday:
“This year’s budget prioritizes safety in our schools and our communities,” said Jozwiak. “With dramatic rising crime rates in our major cities and rural communities, it is more important now than ever we take the steps necessary to ensure the safety of our families and children.”
This budget funds police and prosecutors while getting to the root causes of crime and violence. To support public safety efforts by the Pennsylvania State Police, the budget provides a 17% increase in funding to the agency to hire and train 200 additional state troopers and provide additional mobile video and body cameras.
Additionally, this budget invests in school safety initiatives. To prevent or reduce school violence occurring in the state, the plan includes $100 million in School Safety and Security funding. Additionally, $11 million in funding will go to the Safe School Initiative to help local school districts with security planning and purchase of security items based on safety needs identified by the school district.
Additionally, the budget includes record high funding of $15 billion for PreK-12 education. Specifically, the 2022-23 state budget:
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Increases Basic Education Funding by $525 million to $7 billion.
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Increases Early Childhood Education Funding by $72 million to $390.53 million.
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Increases Special Education Funding by $100 million to $1.3 billion.
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Invests in a School Mental Health Initiative at $100 million.
In addition to record education funding, this year’s state budget is providing relief for vulnerable Pennsylvanians and job creators, large and small. Small business tax relief will help smaller job creators as they continue recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding expense deductions to help and encourage businesses to buy equipment and invest and grow in Pennsylvania. Additionally, small businesses will be allowed to defer or carry forward tax liabilities on gains from similar property exchanges, as allowed in 49 other states.
The 2022-23 state budget also will pay back more than $2 billion worth of debt previously incurred, including:
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$1.7 billion to bring Medicaid payments to timely payments.
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$350 million repaid to the Workers’ Compensation Security Fund.
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Approximately $42 million to pay off outstanding debt in the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, saving small businesses from a tax increase.
This fiscally responsible budget saves for the future by depositing $2.1 billion into the Rainy-Day Fund, bringing it to a historic total of $5 billion. It preserves over $3 billion for use in future budgets, pays back $2 billion worth of past debt and over $40 million in the Unemployed Compensation Trust Fund to stop a tax on small businesses. This budget will also provide a historic cut to Corporate Net Income Tax, reducing it from 9.99% to 8.99% next year and an additional 0.5% reduction each year until the rate reaches 4.99%.
“There is a lot to consider in this budget, but I believe it delivers for Pennsylvania today and tomorrow, while using our taxpayer dollars responsibly,” Jozwiak concluded.
Additional information concerning the 2022-23 state budget can be found by visiting
pahousegop.com/statebudget.
Representative Barry Jozwiak
5th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abby Chiumento
717.260.6617
kpark@pahousegop.com
RepJozwiak.com / Facebook.com/RepJozwiak