PA Should Reconsider Decision to Decouple from “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act to Spur Economic Growth

June 17, 2026

By Rep. Keith J. Greiner (R-Lancaster)
Pennsylvania aspires to attract the innovative and good-paying jobs of the future. Political leaders, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, have touted efforts to attract bold new investments in technology, the life sciences and advanced manufacturing. And for good reason: the stakes are high for Pennsylvania’s economy and quality of life here in the Commonwealth.

Yet, even as Harrisburg promotes new programs to lure premium jobs to our communities, the Shapiro administration continues to include in its budget a regressive tax policy that punishes investments in the very jobs our state’s political leadership purports to embrace. Worse yet, they fail to acknowledge it is a relative tax increase or that it will hamper Pennsylvania’s ability to compete for some of the most sought-after jobs in our global economy.

Last year, Congress passed legislation making it easier for companies, especially capital- and research-intensive ones, to make critical investments in job-related plant equipment, and research. Under federal tax policy, companies investing in capital intensive innovative jobs would be able to write off these investments immediately, rather than amortizing them over time. This represents reform that demonstrably accelerates the return on investment, grows the economy faster and generates higher tax revenues after the transition.

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation has concluded through its own economic modeling that this policy, known as “expensing,” is the greatest stimulator of economic growth contained in the new tax law. Expensing allows companies to assume risks and make strategic investments without having those investments taxed punitively as profits. The result is a more dynamic and innovative business and jobs climate.

The key to expensing is as follows: do not tax as profits the funds that are invested back into critical capital projects and essential research; and do not punish foundational investments by making them more expensive.

Under pressure from the Shapiro administration, state lawmakers have been pushed to delink state depreciation policies from the federal tax code and impose higher taxes on job-creating investment than Congress and other states. This has grave consequences for Pennsylvania’s competitiveness and its ability to attract research entities, business start-ups and sought-after anchors for our emerging economy. This affects jobs in virtually every sector, including the technology industry, energy producers, steel plants, pharmaceuticals, and tool and dye products. It will also impact diverse jobs that require state-of-the-art machinery, modern factories and collaborative research. It will give competing states and foreign countries a competitive advantage.

The Harrisburg bureaucracy seems to believe the transitional cost of adopting these reforms is too great. They are indifferent to how the burden of this “jobs tax” falls directly on the most innovative and dynamic parts of Pennsylvania’s economy, and some of our most highly compensated middle-class employees. Unless our factories and production lines are modernized and paychecks grow, Pennsylvania will become less economically dynamic and have a smaller tax base.

The Legislature should revisit last year’s decoupling from the federal tax bill and restore conformity to the federal tax bill. If not addressed promptly, the loss of expensing will have a subtle, long-term and compounding effect on our Commonwealth and its economic vitality. Even now, business leaders and investors are awakening to the consequences of our state tax policy as they make strategic decisions. To move the Commonwealth forward economically, the General Assembly should embrace and recognize the successes of the national pro-growth tax policy passed last year and protect the manufacturing and technology networks that are critical to Pennsylvania’s future.

Representative Keith J. Greiner, CPA
PA House Finance Committee Chairman
43rd Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Donna Pinkham
717.260.6452
dpinkham@pahousegop.com
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