My, my, where has the time gone? It was about 11 months ago that then-incoming Gov. Tom Wolf delivered his first budget address.

That budget was to have been passed by June 30, 2015. Well, here we are more than eight months later, and we still don't have a complete budget in place.Wolf this week delivered his second budget address - this one for 2016-17. New budget, yes, but the same old rhetoric and name-calling.The problem with the first Wolf budget was that the Democratic governor and the heavily controlled Republican General Assembly couldn't come to an agreement. If you were perhaps expecting some conciliatory comments or gestures from Wolf, it didn't happen. In fact, he told Republican legislators that if they will not fulfill their responsibilities to Pennsylvanians they should find a different line of work.You can imagine how that went over in GOP-land.This budget calls for many of the same components as the one did last year - the components that the Republicans turned up their noses at.Wolf said if the Republicans didn't like his plan - and they don't - then they should find a suitable alternative."But if you won't face up to the reality of the situation we're in, if you ignore that time bomb ticking, if you won't take seriously your responsibility to the people of Pennsylvania," Wolf said, "then find another job."The Republican leadership not only scoffed at Wolf's proposals, but they made it clear that they and the governor are further apart than ever.Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, branded the proposal as the "most absurd budget address of the 18 I have heard during my time in the Legislature."Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, was even more blunt, calling the proposal a "massive tax-and-spend budget built on a pile of rubble.""I don't know how he thinks that gets him votes in either party," Corman said. "We are further away than we were in June of last year," Corman added.As he did last year, Wolf has proposed a number of tax increases:• Boost the personal income tax rate from 3.07 to 3.40 percent• Apply the state sales tax to basic cable television, movie theater tickets and digital downloads• Impose a 6.5 percent severance tax on the extraction of natural gas• Add $1 a pack tax to the price of cigarettes and tax the wholesale price of other tobacco productsOne thing he did not propose this year that he did last year was an increase from 6 percent to 7 percent in the state sales tax. Wolf's budget calls for a $32.7 billion spending plan, compared with the $30.8 billion he had urged legislators to pass for the 2015-16 year.As the one did last year, Wolf's budget calls for massive hikes in education. He also is calling for an increase in the state's minimum wage of nearly $3 an hour -- from $7.25 to $10.15. The last time legislators agreed to raise the minimum wage was in 2006, and that was to $6.55. In 2009, the federal government boosted the minimum wage to $7.25, which forced Pennsylvania to follow suit.Local Republican legislators echoed the harsh attacks of their leadership. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, said he cannot support Wolf's proposal because the governor is calling for broad-based tax increases without dollar-for-dollar property tax relief."The working families, seniors and small businesses in Carbon County cannot afford additional taxes, and they cannot wait for Gov. Wolf to come to the realization that he needs to work with the Legislature." Heffley said.Rep. Jerry Knowles, R-Schuylkill, accused Wolf of "scolding" the Legislature. "The people I represent have spoken loud and clear, and I've heard them," Knowles said."They cannot afford massive widespread tax increases to be forced on their already stressed personal budgets."Knowles said he is hopeful that Wolf realizes that to achieve a responsible budget the governor must work with the Legislature."It's not a one-man job," Knowles added. "What we saw today is a governor who perceives himself as the king of Pennsylvania, scolding members of the General Assembly, whom he perceives to be his servants."Amid the attacks came at least one voice of reason - Sen. John Yudichak, D-Carbon-Monroe-Luzerne. Saying the Cinderella clock is about to strike midnight on the state's fiscal mess, Yudichak called on both the governor and the members of the General Assembly to reconcile their differences."They should have a single focus, a single mission over the next few months - restore fiscal stability to the state budget process by addressing Pennsylvania's structural deficit with a responsible budget," Yudichak said.So here we are again. The rhetoric is flying. Hearts are hardening even more so than they had been. Progress is an oxymoron in this toxic environment. We remind all 203 members of the House of Representatives and 25 of the 50 senators that this is an election year.We voters will be watching you. As for the governor, he missed a golden opportunity to build a collaborative approach before constructing his budget message.Instead, he threw gasoline on an already raging fire. He's untouchable until at least 2018, when he would run for re-election, but we need to put pressure on him to move him toward compromise mode.Wolf and the legislators continue to fiddle to their own tunes while we taxpayers do a not-so-slow burn.BRUCE FRASSINELLI|

TNEDITOR@TONLINE.COM