Pennsylvania touts stronger fiscal health, but clouds loom
The state Capitol building in Harrisburg. (Tom Downing/WITF)
(Harrisburg) — Gov. Tom Wolf says Pennsylvania is making its largest deposit into its budgetary reserve account in nearly two decades.
Wolf’s office said Tuesday’s deposit is $317 million, after strong corporate and sales tax collections drove the state past its revenue expectations by almost 3%.
The state collected a total of $34.9 billion for its main operating account in the just-ended fiscal year. That exceeded projections by $883 million, although most of that extra cash was needed to cover cost overruns.
The 2019-20 fiscal year that began July 1 is projected to be another relatively strong year for tax collections.
However, not everything’s rosy. Pennsylvania still had $67 billion in state pension debt, as of the last valuation, and demographic projections show its working-age population is shrinking.
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