Friday, April 20, 2012WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley wants to break what he describes as the “us versus them” mentality held by state bureaucrats who feel their jobs as regulators is keeping businesses and entrepreneurs in check.
“The governor [Tom Corbett] and I feel very strongly that the way we get out of our current economic condition is by turning to the people who have always gotten us out of all of our tough times historically,” Cawley stated, “the private sector, business people, entrepreneurs, risk takers, people who create family-sustaining jobs.”
In his keynote address Thursday during a luncheon ay the Shenango Valley and Lawrence County Chambers of Commerce 2012 Business-To-Business Expo, Cawley spoke very aggressively about job creation in the commonwealth and the $4 billion deficit he and Corbett inherited when they took office in January 2011.
Government should be a partner in helping businesses grow, but a silent partner that steps aside to allow experimentation and the growth of entrepreneurship, Cawley said.
“What [state government] should be is a resource to help business people be in compliance with laws and get the permits they need in order to create that entrepreneurial atmosphere,” he said.
He called for a more cooperative relationship between businesses and government.
“We all have to work together to improve the quality of life for the people of Pennsylvania,” Cawley said. “The best way you can improve the quality of life is by allowing the private sector to create family-sustaining jobs in a responsible way.”
One area where Cawley believes businesses need the government help is the elimination of the 2.89-mill capital stock and foreign franchise tax levied on corporations created to conduct business in Pennsylvania.
“When you look at Pennsylvania today, it has one of the most regressive business tax climates anywhere in the country,” he asserted.
Cawley said the governor’s office is committed, even in tough economic times, to phasing out the capital stock tax by January 2014.
“We believe its another signal, an example, that Pennsylvania’s open for business and we want to try to put Pennsylvanians back to work,” he said.
A 2004 Pennsylvania film-production tax credit of up to $60 million allows for a 20% reduction in personal income, corporate net income and the capital stock taxes for movies and some shows produced primarily in the state.
The state and tax credit attracted several movies to be made in Pittsburgh – among them “The Road,” the latest Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises,” and lesser known efforts such as “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” and “She’s Out of My League,” which both pay homage to Pittsburgh through frequent mentions of the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Pittsburgh International Airport.
“We have a very robust attraction for the film industry,” Cawley said. “We are getting interest every day and one of the reasons why is because of the film tax credit incentivizing people to come to Pennsylvania in order to produce their films.”
He and Corbett are trying to create an environment of wealth for Marcellus shale industry as well, the lieutenant governor said.
“We definitely have been benefiting for sometime now from the advent of natural gas exploration in this state,” Cawley said, toting 123,000 new hires into new jobs and people with jobs moving to jobs that pay more.
“Of those jobs being created, 74% of them are going to Pennsylvanians and the average wage is $77,000,” he said. “That’s a pretty good, family-sustaining wage.”
It’s not just the work done at the pad site either, Cawley explained, “It’s all the other jobs being created downstream as well.”
In one success story, Cawley told about how the trickle-down economics of the shale industry starts with a company in the Pocono Mountains that re-engineered one of its brushes to meet the needs of the oil industry. That in turn led to a company in Lancaster increasing sales of the wire needed for the bristles of the brushes and a box company in Berks County selling more of the boxes that the brushes are shipped in.
“These are some of the benefits we’ve seen from Marcellus shale and we expect to see them for some time to come,” he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.