Issue Position: Fairness and Equality for Pennsylvanians

Issue Position

Tom Wolf believes Pennsylvania's playing field isn't fair for the majority of its people. Under Governor Corbett, corporations and the wealthy get all the breaks, while hardworking families all across the Commonwealth struggle to get by. We must work to give all Pennsylvanians equal opportunity for jobs, economic security, and happiness regardless of where they live, the connections of their lobbyist, or who they love.

As Governor, Tom would implement certain measures such as:

Tom fully supports marriage equality and as governor, Tom will repeal the state's unconstitutional gay marriage ban and put forth legislation to create marriage equality in the Commonwealth.

A Progressive Income Tax: Pennsylvania's millionaires pay exactly the same rate as their secretaries. That's not fair. Under Tom's income tax plan, Pennsylvania workers will receive an exemption on their personal income taxes, giving them a tax cut.

Minimum Wage Increase: Tom Wolf supports increasing the minimum wage to $10.10, and indexing it to inflation. According to the Economic Policy Institute, this would raise wages for 20 percent of Pennsylvanians, and lead to the creation of 5,000 new jobs by 2016. Tom Wolf also supports raising the tipped minimum wage to 70 percent of the minimum wage. Because it would be tied to the minimum wage, it too would be indexed to inflation. According to the Keystone Research Center, making this adjustment to the tipped minimum wage will result in lifting 4,000 women out of poverty. As a business owner, Tom Wolf knows that investing in workers is the right thing to do. He believes that when you pay your workers well and provide good benefits, everyone wins. And this view is shared by economists, who have studied the impact of minimum wage increases over the last 25 years and have concluded that increases in the minimum wage are not tied to job loss.

Expand Paid Sick Leave Policy: Tom will push for legislation supporting paid sick leave days for employees of businesses with fifty or more employees.

Protecting Voting Right's: Tom Wolf will lead the fight to protect Pennsylvania's voting rights and overturn the arbitrary requirement for photo IDs. At least one Pennsylvania Court of Appeals has already held that the mandatory photo ID requirement is unconstitutional. Instead of making it difficult to vote, Pennsylvania lawmakers should be enacting reforms similar to those in neighboring states that make it easier for residents to participate in the electoral process. Tom Wolf will support measures to protect the right to vote, while making participation convenient for voters. He will expand the ability to vote by mail, create early voting periods, and allow for same day registration.

Increase women-, minority-, and disabled-owned business participation in government procurement and construction contracts: By carving out a percentage of government contracts that should be awarded to women-, minority- and disabled-owned businesses, Pennsylvania can create more high-paying, skilled jobs. As governor, Tom will issue an executive order to increase the participation of these types of businesses in state contracting with the goal of 30% of total dollars committed to these contracts over the current 22%.

Strengthen the state's equal pay law: Even with Pennsylvania's 50-years-old equal pay law, women in Pennsylvania make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. This is unacceptable. At the Wolf Organization, a biannual employee review process works hard to try to prevent pay disparities between genders. As governor, Tom will strengthen our existing equal pay law and hold employers accountable for gender discrimination.

Enact a Pennsylvania Anti-Discrimination law: Tom believes that all people - regardless of sexual orientation - should be treated equally under the law. His company extends benefits to same-sex partners. As governor, Tom Wolf will promote a Pennsylvania Anti-Discrimination Act to make sexual orientation and gender identity and expression a protected class.

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