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On March 6, 2009, Governor Ed Rendell spoke at the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. Gov. Rendell has been spending a good deal of his time recently traveling the Commonwealth to discuss the budget shortfall and his plans to combat the fiscal tsunami.
About 30 business leaders from the Scranton community, including Dick Kane and Chris Kane, took part in the lively debate. Of utmost concern, is the Governor's proposed 4% warehouse use tax. Both Chris and Dick along with other warehousing and logistics representatives openly voiced their objection to the proposed tax. They pointed out that the tax will place an unfair surcharge on doing business in Pennsylvania. They continued by stating that companies will choose not to do business in PA given the 4% increase for services. Businesses will select neighboring states and will relocate current business in PA to other states as well. Cited in the debate is a study from Michigan State University (11-18-07 MSU Study) which the IWLA utilized in their defeat of the same tax enacted by Michigan on October 1, 2007.
The tax in Michigan was repealed 2 months later (MMH Editorial on inventory tax).
Gov. Rendell stated that he appreciated the opinions of those at the meeting and that he will discuss the details with his administration for future consideration.