Wolf pursues election-year tax increase

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s deficit-fixing strategy has decades of precedent against it: No major tax increase has passed Pennsylvania’s Legislature in an election year since at least 1970.

Still, Wolf is asking perhaps Pennsylvania’s most conservative Legislature in modern history to pass a $2.7 billion tax hike, almost 10 percent of last year’s spending.

Democratic Rep. Nick Kotik says there’s a “glimmer” of hope that reasonable minds may prevail.

For now, partial Wolf vetoes of Republican-penned spending bills has left billions of dollars in limbo and public schools borrowing to stay open.

Wolf is again threatening to veto another Republican-penned spending bill. In the meantime, school districts aren’t sure how long they’ll be able to borrow or whether Pennsylvania state government’s gridlock will force them to shut down.