Since being elected in 2006, Senator Dinniman has refused to take a single per diem, saving taxpayers more than $58,000 in the process. He has also either refused to take or donated to charity any annual pay increase, saying, “I cannot accept a pay increase at the same time families are struggling to make ends meet and local businesses are weathering challenging financial times.”
Dinniman with Phoenixville Mayor Leo Scoda and Kim Cooley, Executive Director of the Phoenixville Regional Chamber of Commerce, before the new Veterans Memorial Gay Street Bridge.
Dinniman continues to work to strengthen our economy and reform tax policies that are detrimental to business growth. Did you know that $1 of every $6 in sales income made by Pennsylvania companies goes to companies within Chester and Montgomery counties?
Just as impressively, Chester and Montgomery county companies pay 19 percent of the total wages and salaries earned by Pennsylvanians working in the private sector. These numbers leave no doubt that businesses in our region form the core of Pennsylvania’s economic engine. It’s time that we give them the tools they need to reach their full potential.
For example, currently Pennsylvania illogically penalizes Pennsylvania multi-state companies for having a physical presence here while rewarding those who do not. Specifically, Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax for multi-state companies is based not just on goods sold in Pennsylvania but also on property held and size of payroll. Dinniman’s Senate Bill 868 would change that, making Pennsylvania consider sales alone within the Commonwealth in calculating its corporate net income tax on Pennsylvania multi-state companies. In short, under Dinniman’s Senate Bill 868, Pennsylvania would join the 12 states that use the “single sales factor” method of calculating corporate net income.
Dinniman talks with Ed Breiner, President and CEO of Schramm, during a tour of the company’s West Chester headquarters and plant.
In addition, Dinniman is strong supporter of lowering Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax rate from 9.99 percent to 7.5 percent. Pennsylvania’s tax on corporations has earned the dubious distinction of being the second highest in the nation, behind only Iowa’s. We must take action to lower the rate drastically to show businesses that we too mean business.
Dinniman is also been actively involved in several major transportation projects that are crucial to retaining businesses and attracting jobs to our region. Altogether, PennDOT’s Route 202 Widening Project, the Route 29 slip ramp and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Widening represent an investment of $500 million in our local road system, which in turn is expected to spur at least an additional $1.5 billion in commercial development and the creation of more than 10,000 full-time jobs.
Chester and Montgomery counties are home to many successful businesses and corporations that provide the highly skilled and high-paying jobs that keep our economy humming. Still, we must continue to take steps to attract start-up companies in cutting-edge fields such as the life sciences, information technology and alternative energy, while improving the business climate for years and decades to come. After all, our mutual success and quality of life depend on it.
Dinniman joins local officials in marking the groundbreaking of the Route 29 slip ramp in East Whiteland.