As legislators continue to negotiate a budget that can garner the votes necessary for final passage, four Pennsylvania lawmakers have already cast their vote in favor of higher taxes, breaking a promise to constituents by doing so.

Last Friday House Democrats brought to the floor a new tax bill that would raise taxes on energy, tobacco products, and employers by nearly $1 billion dollars. The bill was approved largely along party lines with all Republicans voting in opposition. The following House Democrats broke the promise they made to constituents to not raise taxes by voting in favor of the 129 page bill:
 

Representative Joe Petrarca (D-55), to his credit, was the only Democrat in the House to buck his caucus’s push for higher taxes. The House is now set to take up a new budget plan that passed out of the Senate this morning. The new plan maintains the 25 cent/ pack tax hike on cigarettes but drops the tax increases on smokeless tobacco, cigars, and energy production that were included in the bill passed by House Democrats last Friday.  ATR opposes this new tentative deal and continues to urge lawmakers to oppose any budget that would result in a net tax increase.