• Home
• News
• New PA Budget Plan Does Not Include Online Gambling

New PA Budget Plan Does Not Include Online Gambling

A group of House Republicans in Pennsylvania revealed a new state revenue plan that does not include online gambling. The plan attempts to fix Pennsylvania’s severe billion budget deficit with what people are terming a “one-year fix,” which essentially entails gathering money from a variety of special funds to cover the $2.3 million budget deficit.

The plan is clearly at odds with a previous package already approved by the Senate in July. That package includes $200 million in revenue from gaming, but the House has yet to touch it.

More on the New Plan

The proposal suggests culling funds from a variety of different accounts. It’s being called the “Taxpayers’ Budget” and it would collect approximately $1.2 billion, which the Republican group claims is sitting idle in special government accounts with high, unused balances.

The additional $1.3 billion necessary to cover the budget deficit would come from a combination of sources such as court settlements, unspent funds from previous yearly budgets, legislative surpluses, and other sources.

It’s being touted as the “Taxpayers’ Budget” since the plan doesn’t include raising taxes on natural gas, electric, and phone bills, which would obviously hurt state taxpayers.

What Are Its Chances?

While the new proposal has a group of Republican lawmakers backing it, members of House leadership, including Speaker Mike Turzai, have not expressed support or championed it.

The new plan has also come under criticism, saying the so-called “Taxpayers’ Budget” would end up hurting taxpayers by siphoning off money from a large number of public projects.

And still other critics say that this “one-year fix” is not a long-term solution, and that next year, Pennsylvania might find itself in the exact same situation.

So even if the new plan does get passed (which is a long-shot), Pennsylvania will eventually have to come up with a long-term fix to its overspending. Online gambling seems to be the perfect solution, it may just be a long wait until all Pennsylvania lawmakers realize it.