\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Pennsylvania Senate voted to cut taxes on electricity and school supplies, sending House Bill 1667 back to the House of Representatives for consideration. The bill would also add money to the state Educational Improvement Tax Credit program and remove a sales tax exemption for data centers.Republican senators called the measure historic, while Democrats said it would create a $1.7 billion hole in the state budget. The bill was first introduced in the state House last June and was revised by the Senate Revision and Appropriations Committee.”This is a great bill,” said Sen. Scott Martin, R-Pa. Dist. 13, and Majority Appropriations Committee Chair.Electricity and school supply tax changesSenators said the bill would eliminate the gross receipts tax on electric bills, which they said would lower costs for consumers after cutting the price electric companies would pay of the price consumers pay for power. It would also create a two-week sales tax holiday for school supplies between the first and third Saturdays in August.”How often do we get the ability to come together as Republicans and Democrats, a Senate and the House and hopefully a governor and say we’re actually going to pass something meaningful that everybody will benefit from,” said Sen. Martin.The bill would direct $25 million to the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, which gives tax breaks to businesses that contribute to programs benefitting education. It would also end a sales tax exemption for data centers that began in 2022 to encourage growth in the state.Debate over savings and budget impact”I want real help. Not a political stunt like we’re witnessing with House Bill 1667,” said Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Pa. Dist. 38. “You might, and I emphasize, might save a few dollars on your bill if it isn’t tossed out in court and the utility companies actually pass those savings on to you.””The impact it’s going to have on electric bills for our consumers, we think this is a positive step in the right direction,” said Sen. Jay Costa, D-Pa. Dist. 43, minority floor leader.”It will cost you many, many, many times more in other ways and other things that you lose to make up the billions we lost in the general fund,” said Sen. Williams.\u201cToday\u2019s vote delivers real, immediate relief to Pennsylvania families and protects students from the drastic, politically motivated measures taken by the House of Representatives,\u201d said Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Pa. Dist. 35 and Majority Whip. \u201cI was proud to stand firmly behind this measure and ensure that Pennsylvania tax dollars are returned to the people of the Commonwealth.\u201d\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
The Pennsylvania Senate voted to cut taxes on electricity and school supplies, sending House Bill 1667<\/a> back to the House of Representatives for consideration. The bill would also add money to the state Educational Improvement Tax Credit program and remove a sales tax exemption for data centers.<\/p>\n Republican senators called the measure historic, while Democrats said it would create a $1.7 billion hole in the state budget. The bill was first introduced in the state House last June and was revised by the Senate Revision and Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n “This is a great bill,” said Sen. Scott Martin, R-Pa. Dist. 13, and Majority Appropriations Committee Chair.<\/p>\n Electricity and school supply tax changes<\/p>\n Senators said the bill would eliminate the gross receipts tax<\/a> on electric bills, which they said would lower costs for consumers after cutting the price electric companies would pay of the price consumers pay for power. It would also create a two-week sales tax holiday for school supplies between the first and third Saturdays in August.<\/p>\n “How often do we get the ability to come together as Republicans and Democrats, a Senate and the House and hopefully a governor and say we’re actually going to pass something meaningful that everybody will benefit from,” said Sen. Martin.<\/p>\n The bill would direct $25 million to the state’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit<\/a> program, which gives tax breaks to businesses that contribute to programs benefitting education. It would also end a sales tax exemption for data centers<\/a> that began in 2022 to encourage growth in the state.<\/p>\n Debate over savings and budget impact<\/p>\n “I want real help. Not a political stunt like we’re witnessing with House Bill 1667,” said Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Pa. Dist. 38. “You might, and I emphasize, might save a few dollars on your bill if it isn’t tossed out in court and the utility companies actually pass those savings on to you.”<\/p>\n “The impact it’s going to have on electric bills for our consumers, we think this is a positive step in the right direction,” said Sen. Jay Costa, D-Pa. Dist. 43, minority floor leader.<\/p>\n “It will cost you many, many, many times more in other ways and other things that you lose to make up the billions we lost in the general fund,” said Sen. Williams.<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s vote delivers real, immediate relief to Pennsylvania families and protects students from the drastic, politically motivated measures taken by the House of Representatives,\u201d said Sen. Wayne Langerholc, R-Pa. Dist. 35 and Majority Whip. \u201cI was proud to stand firmly behind this measure and ensure that Pennsylvania tax dollars are returned to the people of the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pennsylvania Senate voted to cut taxes on electricity and school supplies, sending House Bill 1667 back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2116,63187,67181,98963,17274,34006,98964,98965,18397,28,30,29,12534,60355,19526,98966,20578,2812],"class_list":["post-228418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-data-centers","tag-educational-improvement-tax-credit","tag-electric-bills","tag-house-bill-1667","tag-jay-costa","tag-lindsey-williams","tag-majority-appropriations-committee","tag-majority-floor-leader","tag-majority-whip","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-pennsylvania-senate","tag-school-supplies","tag-scott-martin","tag-senate-revision-and-appropriations-committee","tag-wayne-langerholc","tag-wgal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228418","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=228418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}