It appears the sales tax increase to 7.25% for increased education spending and property tax "relief" is dead.

As The Man noted, many had concerns the "relief" would just be temporary as districts would just raise taxes later.  That and the fact the legislators couldn't agree on how the "relief" would be distributed across the state.

I am still sticking with what I said way back in Post 4, we will get an increase in spending for education along with a Marcellus shale extraction tax along with some form of reform for state employee pensions and/or liquor privitization

Today our esteemed group of part time Senators, with full time pay and benefits, were hard at work cleaning up some pressing legislation before slinking off on a holiday recess. You might think the highest priority business at hand would be passing a budget agreement that is 5 months past due. Well, you would be wrong, my friend. According to our senators, the most important piece of legislation in dire need of passage was a non-binding resolution to keep Syrian refugees out of Pennsylvania. Yep . . . By a vote of 37 yeas against 13 nays, the non-binding resolution passed the state senate. Hey, my senator (Scott Wagner) voted against a motion to table the bill, and voted in favor of final passage. This resolution is 'to protect Pennsylvanians' . . . I guess to protect us from the onslaught of Syrian refugees that will inevitably lead to terrorist triggered bloodshed in Somerset. Or, maybe the Syrian terrorists heard about Paradise actually existing right here in the Susquehanna valley, and decided that it would be a good place to strap on a suicide vest and become a martyr. The really dumb thing is that it is a non-binding resolution . . . It will have no effect . . . It is worthless except for political posturing . . . And it would be struck down by the legal system if they ever tried to put it into effect.

So, again, instead of working on important tasks that they are constitutionally required to complete, they waste their time on crap like this. Where is the budget? What are they doing? They obviously think the voters aren't watching or don't care what they are doing in Harrisburg. Seriously, if any of these bozos are re-elected, we should all be ashamed of ourselves.