FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 4.28.26
CONTACT: Kirstin Snow, Communications Director, snow@pennpolicy.org
Harrisburg, PA— Today, the Pennsylvania Policy Center released the following statement from its Executive Director, Felicity Williams, Esq., on the Pennsylvania Senate Dems “Affordability Action Plan” announced on April 21st:
“Pennsylvania families are facing a real affordability crisis. Housing costs are rising. Child care costs continue to strain household budgets. Utility bills have climbed sharply. Health care costs remain out of reach for too many families. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is still stuck at $7.25 an hour, unchanged since 2009, leaving full-time workers earning barely more than $15,000 a year before taxes.
The affordability plan released by the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Caucus on April 21 acknowledges many of the pressures working families are facing and includes several proposals that move the conversation in the right direction. We support efforts to strengthen affordability through raising wages, expanding the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, advancing paid family and medical leave, and lowering costs for working families.
But Pennsylvania cannot build a serious affordability agenda without also addressing how we pay for it.
Many of the proposals being discussed require sustainable recurring revenue to succeed in the long term. Pennsylvania is already facing a structural budget deficit, with the state spending billions more each year than it raises in recurring revenue. Short-term budget gimmicks and one-time federal relief dollars that helped paper over the problem are disappearing, even as the need for investment in schools, transit, health care, housing, and working families continues to grow.
That is why lawmakers must stop avoiding the question of tax fairness.
Pennsylvania continues to maintain one of the most upside-down tax systems in the country. The lowest-income 20% of Pennsylvania families pay roughly 15.1% of their income in state and local taxes, while the top 1% pay about 6%. At the same time, 73% of multinational corporations continue to exploit loopholes that allow profits generated in Pennsylvania to be shifted out of state to avoid taxation.
That is why the Senate should immediately move on House-passed legislation like Representative Elizabeth Fiedler’s water’s-edge combined reporting bill, House Bill 1610, which passed the House and now sits stalled in the Senate Finance Committee. Closing the Delaware loophole and requiring large multistate corporations to report profits more honestly is a critical first step toward restoring fairness to Pennsylvania’s tax system and generating revenue needed to support affordability policies for Pennsylvanians.
We also support efforts to strengthen Pennsylvania’s Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit. The current credit equals just 10% of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit. While that was an important step forward, Pennsylvania still lags behind many other states that provide significantly larger state-level matches. Strengthening and expanding the credit would put more money directly back into the pockets of working families struggling with rising costs.
In addition, lawmakers should move forward on Paid Family and Medical Leave legislation that would help workers care for themselves and their loved ones without risking financial devastation. No one should have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a new child, recovering from illness, or supporting a sick family member.
The Republican-led Senate must also stop blocking legislation already passed by the House that would directly improve affordability for working families. That includes House Bill 2189 to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which remains stalled in the Senate Labor & Industry Committee despite overwhelming evidence that wages have failed to keep pace with the cost of living. Pennsylvania now lags behind every surrounding state on minimum wage, leaving workers across the Commonwealth stuck at the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour while neighboring states have moved forward with higher wage floors.
Affordability cannot be achieved through slogans or short-term political messaging alone. It requires sustained investment, stronger wages, fairer taxes, and the political will to require multimillionaires, billionaires, and multinational corporations to finally pay their fair share so Pennsylvania can invest in the people and services that keep communities stable and families afloat.
At the Pennsylvania Policy Center, we believe Pennsylvania has a choice. Lawmakers can continue relying on delays, stopgaps, and an unfair tax structure that leaves working families carrying too much of the burden, or they can build a long-term affordability agenda that actually meets the scale of the challenges people are facing every day.
Pennsylvanians deserve action that matches the urgency of this moment.”
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