Editor’s note: The Times News will be looking at where the candidates stand on the issues leading up to the Nov. 8 election.

By CHARLOTTE KEITH

SPOTLIGHT PA

As inflation has soared to its highest levels in 40 years, driving up the price of groceries and gas and squeezing household budgets, Pennsylvanians have consistently identified the economy as one of the top issues influencing their choice in the 2022 governor’s race.

Here’s a look at two key issues for Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee, and state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Republican representing Franklin County.

Gas tax

Pennsylvania has the highest gas tax in the nation and with gas prices reaching record highs over the summer, many residents have been feeling the pinch.

In June, average gas prices in Pennsylvania peaked at just over $5 per gallon, according to data from AAA. Prices have since fallen but remain about 40 cents higher than this time last year.

Pennsylvania relies on gas tax revenues to maintain its vast, aging network of roads and bridges, which the state Department of Transportation says needs billions of dollars in upgrades and maintenance.

Mastriano says he would work with the legislature to cut the gas tax while maintaining funding for roads and bridges, although he did not specify where the extra money would come from. Last year, he sponsored a bill that would temporarily lower the gas tax by roughly 25% for six months and make up the lost revenue with federal pandemic aid and a one-time registration fee for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Shapiro, by contrast, argues that not all of the savings from cutting the gas tax would be passed on to consumers, since the tax is paid by fuel distributors rather than by drivers directly when they fill up.

The Penn Wharton Budget Model, a nonpartisan research initiative, looked at what happened when three states temporarily cut gas taxes earlier this year and found that between two-thirds and three-quarters of the savings were passed onto consumers.

Instead, Shapiro has proposed a gas tax rebate of $250 per vehicle - for up to four vehicles per household - for all residents, regardless of income.

The Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board criticized this aspect of the plan, saying it would send “a disproportionate amount of money to the state’s top income earners.”

“It’s a one-time payment to start,” Shapiro said at a news conference in March, according to a transcript shared by his campaign. “If we need to do it again and again, we will.”

Additionally, not all the money from the gas tax actually goes to pay for roads and bridges. Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are transferred to help fund Pennsylvania State Police.

A report in 2019 by the state auditor general found that the $4.25 billion transferred since 2012 to state police from the Motor License Fund - which provides about half of PennDOT’s budget - had delayed planned repairs.

Last year, a state commission recommended ending the transfers, which would require the governor and lawmakers to agree on another way to pay for state police.

Both candidates have said they support ending the transfers, but haven’t specified how they would replace the state police funding.

Property tax relief

A popular state program that gives low-income older and disabled homeowners a partial refund on their property taxes received a one-time boost this year. Gov. Tom Wolf said the bonus payments would help some of the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians as they face steep price increases.

But, as Spotlight PA reported, the number of people getting help from the program has been shrinking for years because the state legislature hasn’t updated the income limits for homeowners to qualify since 2006.

Lawmakers from both parties have repeatedly proposed legislation that would address the program’s declining numbers, but those bills have mostly failed to advance in the legislature.

Shapiro has proposed raising the income thresholds for the rebate program to a level that would make an estimated 275,000 more people eligible and doubling the amount that many households receive. The expansion would cost roughly $400 million, according to his campaign.

Mastriano supported the one-time bonuses but argues that residential property taxes, which provide vital funding for local governments and public schools, should be abolished altogether. The property tax, he wrote earlier this year, “is like paying rent to the government for land you own.”

As a state senator, Mastriano introduced legislation that would eliminate property taxes for homeowners 65 and older who make less than $40,000 per year and have lived in Pennsylvania for at least a decade. The bill died in committee in 2019.

On his first day as governor, Mastriano says he would create a task force dedicated to eliminating property taxes for homeowners by 2024. Previous efforts to abolish the property tax have stalled in Harrisburg for decades because replacing the lost revenue for schools would require difficult trade-offs like raising sales or income taxes, changes that many lawmakers have been unwilling to support.

Mastriano told Spotlight PA that while any property tax elimination bill would require some sort of revenue replacement, the first priority for his property tax task force would be identifying wasteful spending by state agencies.

In a radio interview in March, Mastriano said he hoped to eliminate property taxes without increasing other taxes by reducing the overall cost of public education. He proposed cutting state spending per student from $19,000 to roughly $10,000 and giving the money directly to students to use at the school of their choice.

Mastriano has also suggested making up the revenue lost by scrapping property taxes, which would total in the billions, and levying a tax on private universities’ endowments, or charging a fee to international money transfers.

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters.

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