Mar. 7—Here is a list of the winners and losers in Gov. Josh Shapiro's first proposed budget, which would cover the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
Winners
Senior citizen homeowners/renters: Budget proposes increasing the maximum property tax/rent rebates to $1,000 from $650, the first increase in 17 years. The eligibility cap on household income would rise to $45,000 from $35,000 for homeowners and $15,000 for renters.
Senior citizens: $10 million more for adult day and personal care services and in-home meals to keep people in homes longer.
Wage earners/shoppers: No increase in state personal income or sales taxes.
Cellphone users: Shapiro proposes eliminating all gross receipts and sales and use taxes on cell phones. The 911 surcharge fee would rise to $2.03 a phone from $1.65, but that's far less than the eliminated taxes.
School districts: Would get $567.4 million more for basic public school education, $103.8 million more for special education, $38.5 million more for free breakfasts, $100 million to match local spending on school building environmental upgrades and $100 million on school security.
Low-wage earners: Proposes boosting the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour on Jan. 1.
Large corporations: Net income tax would drop from 8.99%, but Shapiro didn't commit to cutting it to 4% as he said during the campaign or any specific lower number or schedule for that matter.
New teachers, nurses and cops: State income tax breaks of up to $2,500 a year for three years.
State police: $16.4 million for 384 new troopers.
Rural libraries: $4.2 million for a new fund for repairs and other improvements.
State and community colleges: $60 million more for student aid.
Losers
Property taxpayers: No major changes to school funding that would dramatically reduce property taxes, except for additional education funding that could somewhat limit local tax hikes.
Underfunded school districts: Shapiro called for bipartisan talks to address the school funding formula that a state Commonwealth Court judge ruled unconstitutional last month, but came nowhere close to proposing the funding required.
Employers: Those who aren't already paying employees at least $15 an hour or following labor laws. The budget proposes $1.28 million more to hire investigators to enforce labor laws.
— BORYS KRAWCZENIUK