Letters to the Editor | Nov. 8, 2026
Inquirer readers on the Harrisburg “trifecta” for Democrats, who now hold the governor’s office and both chambers of the General Assembly.
The Harrisburg trifecta
Now that the Pennsylvania Democratic Party has won a government trifecta, they need to act to repeal the Uniform Tax Provision of the Pennsylvania Constitution. This provision prohibits different tax rates for different levels of income. A worker earning $7.25 an hour pays the exact same wage tax as the person making $100 an hour. An office building worth $50 million pays the same real estate rate as a home worth $50,000. No income or wage levy in Pennsylvania, whether statewide or local, may be graduated. Since the low-wage earner and the poor homeowner cannot absorb a tax increase, the tax rates for the wealthiest wage earners are frozen at the rate the poorest can pay. The commonwealth is unable to ask those who benefit from our natural resources, educated population, roads, and infrastructure to conduct business to contribute a commensurate share of taxes to the state they work, live, and thrive in.
Elizabeth Fiedler and Morgan Cephas have introduced legislation in the House — as has Tim Kearney in the Senate — to remove the Uniform Tax Provision from the state Constitution. The General Assembly can provide a lasting benefit to the commonwealth by voting to remove this provision from the constitution.
Stephen DeLuca, Philadelphia
. . .
On Wednesday, I woke up to America’s promise. I thought of the thousands of volunteers who knocked on doors, made phone calls, and sent postcards; the poll workers who made sure our votes were counted; and the voters who turned out in record numbers and said, “Enough.”
We, the people, have reminded this administration that our democracy is not built around the whims of a would-be dictator. It is still a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Tuesday night, Gov. Josh Shapiro echoed what so many of us felt: “Tonight, Pennsylvania, you declared that you could not be more ready for an end of this ruthless chaos and cruelty, and this rampant corruption that raises our costs and rattles our conscience.”
For more than a decade, Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate leadership has refused to act on House-passed legislation to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour. Pennsylvania is the only state among its neighbors that has not done so. That is about to change.
Let’s take a moment to celebrate a victory that will impact the lives of millions of people and replace cruelty with kindness, chaos with order, and corruption with empathy.
Orly Zeewy, Bryn Mawr
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Letters feature a reader’s written opinion and are submitted in response to an article in The Inquirer or another topical issue. Submissions should be sent to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include the writer’s home address and day and evening phone number. Letters are published in the Inquirer six days a week on the print opinion pages and online.
