Columnist: Gov. Corbett is blind to the biggest fraud

[JPZenger]

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/editorials-columns/christopher-j-kelly/chris-kelly-corbett-blind-to-biggest-fraud-1.1311085

The whole column is worth reading, including the hall of shame of certain corrupt PA. legislators. Here's some excepts:

"Meanwhile, the state's real welfare kings and queens - corporations that reap billions here but pay no little or no income tax and a Legislature that operates like an organized crime family - keep on collecting at the expense of every living Pennsylvanian and generations yet to be born. Corporate and Legislative Welfare Fraud are costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars, but Mr. Corbett is going to make sure no child, senior citizen or disabled Pennsylvanian lives high on the hog on $35 a week, the average food stamp benefit the state dispenses.

...Here are a few suggestions on how Mr. Corbett might best proceed:

-Close the Delaware Loophole. A naked tax dodge that allows corporations to set up shells across the state line to avoid paying corporate income tax, the loophole costs the state as much as $550 million a year, by state Department of Revenue calculations that are years old.

-Impose a fair severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas drillers. Mr. Corbett's stubborn refusal to tax his biggest donors has cost the state nearly $350 million in revenue, compounded at $11,000 an hour, according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

-Squeeze the Legislature - the nation's most expensive per capita with an annual budget of about $300 million. Lawmakers are sitting on a $120 million slush fund that could cut the state's budget deficit by more than half with the stroke of a pen. Lawmakers say they need the surplus in case of a protracted budget impasse, which could result in payless paydays for lawmakers and staffers. Talk about a safety net.

...Mr. Corbett can't waste valuable time on such diversions. He has a phony crisis to fix. Instead of taking on his corporate patrons or the corrupt Legislature his party controls, Mr. Corbett is using the bully pulpit to bully people who can't fight back or buy his help with campaign donations..."
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Here's another article on the Legislature hoarding its "surplus" which is also known as a slush fund.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/stop-hoarding-public-s-cash-1.1310212

[enough]

1. All this in the context of massive cuts on aid to the poor.

From the article:

Gov. Tom Corbett's cynical war on the poor, sick and elderly escalated Tuesday with the implementation of a means test for Pennsylvanians receiving food stamps. Under the governor's new policy, families with more than $5,500 in assets - $9,000 for seniors or people with disabilities - will be denied benefits.

Mr. Corbett, R-Drillers, initially set the maximums at $2,000 for families and $3,250 for seniors, but when numerous observers protested that those numbers crossed the line from merely cruel to utterly heartless, he caved in and settled for merely cruel.

snip>

Man I hope we have somebody viable to run against Corbett next time.