Gov. Wolf’s Tax Plan Would Devastate Dale

Dale Kaplan is a survivor. His family-run dry cleaning business has weathered declining volume, thanks to innovations like no-iron dress shirts, and a devastating fire. Now Dale’s 27 year old business is facing a new threat- Governor Wolf's tax plan.

Governor Wolf's latest tax proposal would raise the income tax by 14 percent, and impose the sales tax on select services like dry cleaning, basic cable TV, amusement and recreation, and wedding planning. (UPDATE: Gov. Wolf offered a new tax proposal on October 6, 2015. Here is a summary of that plan)

Dale's worried he can't take another hit.

“I've gone from 29 to 14 employees. I work half of the day, I'm here at seven in the morning and I go home at seven in the night.”

He's especially worried after seeing the effects of a sales tax in neighboring Ohio.

“One of my friends has some locations in Ohio. When they put sales tax on dry cleaning in Ohio his business, in 12 months, went down 15 percent gross volume. That's damaging.”

The Kaplans and small business families like them would suffer a double whammy under the governor's plan. In addition to the new sales tax on dry cleaning services, they'd also have to pay a higher personal income tax. So much for the middle class tax relief Governor Wolf promised.