House Republicans focus on small-business impact of governor’s budget stance
State Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth Township, says Gov. Tom Wolf needs to get on “spending rehab.”
State Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-South Fayette, speaks at Steinberger Floors in Heidelberg.
State Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-South Fayette, said Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget proposals would deter people from starting or expanding small businesses.
Mortgage company owner Sonny Bringol said higher taxes in Pennsylvania hurt his ability to compete in other states.
David Steinberger of Steinberger Floors says the state government “kind of uses their checkbook whether they have the money or not, and they figure out later where they’ll get the money.”
State Rep. John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair, said his constituents have made it clear they do not want higher taxes.
To Pennsylvania small-business owner Sonny Bringol, one formula for success, or lack thereof, is relatively simple.
“The more taxes I have, the less competitive I am in the products I sell in other states,” Bringol, president of Victorian Finance LLC, said. “The people providing those services we sell in other states work here. If I’m not able to be competitive in other states, I cannot hire more people here.”
The Bridgeville mortgage lender, who has more than 70 employees, spoke during a news conference Friday organized by state Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-South Fayette, whose district includes parts of northwestern Washington County.
He and other House Republicans gathered at the family-owned Steinberger Floors in Heidelberg to criticize Gov. Tom Wolf’s positions in the 2015-16 state budget impasse, focusing in part on the effects of tax increases on the small-business sector.
Along with taxes, David Steinberger cited other rising costs that affect his floor-covering business, which employs 22 people.
“The checkbook doesn’t last too long sometimes,” he said. “The government kind of uses their checkbook whether they have the money or not, and they figure out later where they’ll get the money.”
As owner of Jason’s Cheesecake Co., which helps schools and nonprofit organizations to raise money, Ortitay provided his own insight.
“For a small business that’s trying to grow, to buy more equipment, to hire more people, to pay a family-sustaining wage, it’s getting harder,” he said. “To do what the governor wants us to do is just going to deter more and more people from starting businesses and bringing businesses here and hiring people, which is the opposite effect of what we want.”
Rep. Rick Saccone, R-Elizabeth Township, expressed opposition to measures that would increase the minimum wage in the private sector.
“He doesn’t realize what that does to small businesses,” said Saccone, who represents a portion of the northeastern part of Washington County. “I can take you to at least four small businesses in my district and about 50 around the state that I know of that will close down, or they’ll fire employees, they’ll lay off employees, if you raise minimum wage.”
Saccone referred to Wolf as a “spending junkie.”
“We have got to get him on spending rehab,” Saccone said. “We have to cut our spending, not increase taxes, to turn our economy around and save our small businesses.”
Rep. John Maher, R-Upper St. Clair, spoke about the attitude of his constituents.
“My 60,000 bosses live in Bethel Park, Peters Township and Upper St. Clair,” he said, “and the message from my bosses is loud and clear: They believe they pay enough in taxes.”
The state budget was due for adoption June 30, but Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature have been at odds since. In December, the governor approved part of the budget submitted by Republicans, exercising line-item vetoes of numerous items while providing emergency funding for schools.