April Tax Collections Bring More Bad News For Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Another bad month of tax collections is deepening Pennsylvania state government's budget hole.

The Department of Revenue said Monday that April's tax collections came in $537 million below expectations. That means the state's overall shortfall 10 months through the fiscal year is more than $1 billion.

Rep. Joseph Markosek, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, says April's shortfall must serve as a wake-up call.

The growing gap could put more pressure on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to accept spending cuts or the Republican-controlled Legislature to raise taxes as they prepare a budget plan for the fiscal year starting this July 1.

The bad news arrives after the Legislature's nonpartisan Independent Fiscal Office projected a shortfall of nearly $3 billion through next summer.