Governor Rendell: Pennsylvania Flush With 2010 Tax Dollars
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell held a news conference this morning to go over the state's fiscal health as he gets ready to exit office.
And there was some good news: simply, the governor said, the commonwealth collected more tax dollars than anticipated.
"In December we collected $176.9 million more than we estimated. That brings our total, year to date revenue to $191 million above estimate," the governor (above) told reporters at the Bellevue Hotel in center city.
He says every tax category came in above estimate, but chiefly corporate, sales, and personal income taxes. He says it could close a projected $63 million gap but doesn't close the Keystone State's long-term budget woes, which he attributes to pension, Medicaid, and other escalating costs.
What did he think about the possible sale and privatization of state liquor stores (see related story)?
"If you use that to plug this year's deficit, that doesn't do anything but delay the day of reckoning for one year," he said.
Rendell says the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board provided more than $110 million in profits for the state last year.
As for his future, Rendell says he has signed with the William Morris talent agency -- and he said the next time he speaks, someone will be paying for it.
Reported by Michelle Durham, KYW Newsradio 1060.
