Reality check needed for both sides in Pa.

In what can only be described as a stinging rebuke, every Republican in the House Wednesday turned thumb’s down on Gov. Tom Wolf’s quest to raise taxes. Not only that, but they were joined by nine Democrats, all moderates from southwestern Pennsylvania, where the Marcellus Shale has sparked an economic boom, and much-needed jobs.

The House voted 127-73 to reject the latest incarnation of Wolf’s budget plan, which included an increase in the state’s personal income tax, as well as a new tax on the state’s Marcellus Shale natural gas production. Wolf had already dropped a previous effort to tack on an increase in the state sales tax as well.

Republicans bristled at the tax hikes, in particular the increases in the income and sales tax, which they saw as reaching directly into their constituents’ wallets.

All of which begs the same question as this impasse hits the century mark — 100 days since the deadline for a budget plan to be in place.

For some reason, Wolf chose to look at the bitter defeat as a positive, lauding the fact that so many Democrats backed his plan. “I think Democrats showed their stuff today,” the governor said. “I was really proud of them.” That’s an odd assessment from a governor who came up 29 votes short.

Wolf needs 102 votes to get his budget through the House. And as Wednesday’s vote underscored, he’s nowhere near that kind of backing, even from members of his own party. Wolf wants to raise $1.4 billion in the current fiscal year and another $2.4 billion next year, vowing to provide more for Pennsylvania school districts, as well as digging the state out of its mounting $2.4 billion deficit.

Wolf did not exactly sound like he’s ready to retreat. “I’m not taking anything off the table,” he said after the vote.

To his credit, the governor has proved he is at least somewhat flexible in negotiating with Republicans. He already chucked several elements of his original budget plan, including a call for increasing the sales tax from 6 percent to 6.6 percent, as well as expanding the items on which it would be applied. But he still wanted to hike the personal income tax from 3.07 percent to 3.57 percent. On two other fronts the governor also seems to at least be willing to talk, offering his own proposals on two positions that Republicans clearly want: privatization of alcohol sales in the state, and reform of the state’s two large public employee pensions.

Wolf may not have been ready to concede defeat, but Republicans were more than willing to claim victory, stressing something they have repeated since Wolf first rolled out his idea of massive tax hikes to fund his spending plan. The people of Pennsylvania don’t want them.

What happens now? Well, state Rep. Bill Adolph, R-Delaware County, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, suggested maybe it was time for the governor to undergo a reality check.

“It’s taking too long to get in touch with reality,” Adolph said after the vote.

Here’s what reality actually means in Pennsylvania. We elect a Democratic governor who campaigned on increased spending — in particular in education — and the higher taxes he says we need to support them. At the same time we consistently elect Republican majorities in both the House and Senate — they actually gained seats at the same time Wolf was winning the governor’s mansion — who look at tax increases as something akin to the plague.

In the meantime, social services, early learning centers and non-profits across the state are increasingly feeling the pain that the lack of action in Harrisburg is inflicting on those in society who most need help.

Neither side indicated when they might return to the bargaining table. Wolf might be able to salvage some kind of new levy on Marcellus Shale, but if he can’t convince his own party to hike the income and sales taxes, what makes him think Republicans are eager to cross the aisle?

After the vote, the House recessed. They do not reconvene for two weeks. That probably best describes reality in Harrisburg.

Maybe it’s time for citizens to deliver another message to both sides in this three-months-old impasse.

Get real.