\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWith three weeks until Pennsylvania\u2019s budget deadline, lawmakers are weighing a mix of revenue ideas while major questions remain about whether any of them can win broad support.Advocates gathered at the state Capitol in recent days to press for action on a range of issues, including legalizing adult-use cannabis. Supporters say recreational marijuana could generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the state.\u201cI think the time is now,\u201d Geoff Smith of Montco NORML said. \u201cYou need to create solutions that, you know, in the budget would be great.\u201dBut proposals to legalize recreational marijuana and to tax and regulate slot-like skill game machines remain uncertain.Cannabis legalization faces resistance from some Senate Republicans. At the same time, some lawmakers worry efforts to regulate skill games could be delayed pending a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on whether the machines are legal.Republicans say the focus should be less on new taxes and more on spending.\u201cI hesitate to see how vital taxes really solves the problem,\u201d Rep. Tom Kutz, R-Middlesex Township, said. He argued the larger issue is Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s proposed spending increases without what he called realistic revenue plans to support them.One proposal advancing in the House would place a 5% tax on companies that sell digital advertising in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers approved the measure Tuesday with bipartisan support.Rep. Liz Fiedler, D-Philadelphia, said the tax could raise between $500 million and $900 million.\u201cIn this building, I\u2019ve been here about eight years, and I have to tell you, usually we are talking about the opposite side of the coin,\u201d Fiedler said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about how we can stretch a dollar and make it go even further.\u201dThe debate comes as lawmakers work toward a budget deal by the end-of-month deadline, with revenue options still unsettled.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tHARRISBURG, Pa. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
With three weeks until Pennsylvania\u2019s budget deadline, lawmakers are weighing a mix of revenue ideas while major questions remain about whether any of them can win broad support.<\/p>\n
Advocates gathered at the state Capitol in recent days to press for action on a range of issues, including legalizing adult-use cannabis. Supporters say recreational marijuana could generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year for the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the time is now,\u201d Geoff Smith of Montco NORML said. \u201cYou need to create solutions that, you know, in the budget would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n
But proposals to legalize recreational marijuana and to tax and regulate slot-like skill game machines remain uncertain.<\/p>\n
Cannabis legalization faces resistance from some Senate Republicans. At the same time, some lawmakers worry efforts to regulate skill games could be delayed pending a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling on whether the machines are legal.<\/p>\n
Republicans say the focus should be less on new taxes and more on spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hesitate to see how vital taxes really solves the problem,\u201d Rep. Tom Kutz, R-Middlesex Township, said. He argued the larger issue is Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s proposed spending increases without what he called realistic revenue plans to support them.<\/p>\n
One proposal advancing in the House would place a 5% tax on companies that sell digital advertising in Pennsylvania. Lawmakers approved the measure Tuesday with bipartisan support.<\/p>\n
Rep. Liz Fiedler, D-Philadelphia, said the tax could raise between $500 million and $900 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this building, I\u2019ve been here about eight years, and I have to tell you, usually we are talking about the opposite side of the coin,\u201d Fiedler said. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about how we can stretch a dollar and make it go even further.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debate comes as lawmakers work toward a budget deal by the end-of-month deadline, with revenue options still unsettled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With three weeks until Pennsylvania\u2019s budget deadline, lawmakers are weighing a mix of revenue ideas while major questions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15050,31525,37,28,30,20037,29,1979],"class_list":["post-215119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-cannabis","tag-digital-advertising","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-lawmakers","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-skill-games"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}