Union members call on Shapiro, Dems to embrace billionaires tax

Advocates believe that a tax on Pennsylvania billionaires can raise at least $6 billion and offset federal budget cuts. 

Now that lawmakers have concluded weeks of appropriations hearings examining the details of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, union members from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and a coalition of progressive organizations are calling on Shapiro to embrace a packet of bills that taxes billionaires. 

“ We can’t rely on Washington DC to take care of Pennsylvania, so we are going to do it ourselves,” Lenora Price, a certified nursing assistant and SEIU Healthcare Pa. member, said at a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday. 

“That’s why we are calling on the state legislature and the governor to raise revenue by closing corporate loopholes, tax, digital ads, and taxing the rich.  They are becoming richer by making money off of their stocks, investments, and profiting off of our hard work.”

Thanks to the uniformity clause, Pennsylvania’s constitution prevents the legislature from implementing a progressive income tax, forcing the wealthier to pay more in taxes than ordinary residents, so lawmakers have to find creative ways to raise funds and plug the commonwealth’s budget deficit. 

State Reps. Rick Krajewski (D-Philadelphia) and Elizabeth Fiedler (D-Philadelphia) are advocating bills that closes the Delaware Loophole, which Shapiro has called for in previous budgets, and places taxes on passive income and investments, and on social media ads.

So far, over 30 Democratic lawmakers from the House and Senate have co-signed legislation calling for a tax on billionaires, but pushing these proposals through the Republican controlled Pennsylvania Senate will be next to impossible for Democrats.

However, Democrats won’t need the support of Republicans in the Senate if they are able to flip the upper chamber while holding one to the House and Governor’s mansion after November’s election.

“We know that we’re challenging ideas about taxes that have governed our policy making for half a century, but what we are also seeing is that system is not working anymore,” Krajewski said. “We are at a moment where this system is crashing and the wealthy, the oligarchs, are trying to use this moment to take control of our country.”

Over the past few years, Democrats have looked at legalizing and regulating skilled games, which are slot machine-like games, that have proliferated in bars and gas stations across the commonwealth, and legalizing recreational adult-use cannabis in order to raise revenues, but advocates pushing for the billionaires tax don’t believe they go far enough.  

Shapiro’s budget office thinks that skilled games and recreational cannabis could raise over $1.5 billion, but the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) is projecting a budget deficit of $3.9 billion to $7 billion. 

A spokesperson from the Shapiro administration pointed to the constitution’s uniformity clause arguing that the state government would be unable to tax wealthier individuals at higher rates. 

“The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has previously ruled that this clause prevents instituting higher tax rates for individuals with higher incomes,” the spokesperson said. 

Advocates believe that the Tax Billionaires, Fund PA campaign believe that these bills could raise up to $6 billion per year and cover the Republican budget cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 

“ What an insult to watch as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Jeffrey Yass hoard their extreme wealth while our neighbors suffer,” Krajewski said.

He added, “we pretend to be dumbfounded about why the working class is leaving the Democratic Party when the answer is right in front of us. Working people can no longer stand watching billionaires amass a net worth of nations while our conditions get worse and worse. The time for action is now.”