Oct. 14—WILKES-BARRE — Treasurer Stacy Garrity and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey on Monday announced the PA ABLE Savings Program has surpassed $135 million in assets — a major program milestone.
PA ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts help Pennsylvanians with disabilities and their families to save for disability-related expenses without impacting important benefits.
“The growth of PA ABLE is truly amazing and it’s changing lives,” Treasurer Garrity said. “Earlier this year, we announced that we surpassed $100 million in assets. Today, we’re over $135 million. Those are great numbers, but it’s far more important to understand what they mean: Pennsylvanians with disabilities are saving with PA ABLE because it works. I will keep fighting to make PA ABLE even stronger because everyone deserves financial independence and security. ABLE has deep, bipartisan roots in Pennsylvania, and I’m proud to promote it everywhere I go.”
“I’ve spent my career fighting to ensure that people with disabilities have the opportunity to live full, healthy, and independent lives,” Casey said. “ABLE is a commonsense, bipartisan program that serves as a lifeline to financial independence for thousands of people across the Commonwealth. I thank Treasurer Garrity for working to make this program so successful in Pennsylvania and I will keep fighting to ensure that all those with disabilities have the tools, resources, and support they need to reach their full potential.”
States were authorized to create ABLE programs with the passage of federal ABLE legislation in 2014, spearheaded by Sen. Casey.
At the state level, PA ABLE was enacted in 2016 with the leadership of Sen. Lisa Baker (R, D-20). Since the first PA ABLE account opened in 2017, the program has grown to become the largest in the National ABLE Alliance and one of the largest in the country.
“The message today is we have a program that helps families meet important needs and realize goals,” Baker said. “The pace of contributions means people have confidence ABLE is well designed and well run. It’s a welcome reminder of the good that can happen when we concentrate on policies to uplift people, rather than dictate to them. Empowerment works.”
PA ABLE offers seven different savings and investment options, including an interest-bearing checking account. PA ABLE account owners can contribute up to $18,000 per year. Contributions can be deducted from PA state income taxes, and owners pay no federal or state income taxes on account growth when used for qualified expenses. There are now nearly 10,000 PA ABLE accounts.
Starting in 2025, a new tax credit will encourage businesses to support their employees saving with PA ABLE. Pennsylvania employers will be eligible for a 25 percent tax credit on matching employer contributions of up to $500 per employee per year.
And beginning on Jan. 1, 2026, access to ABLE programs will be greatly expanded. Currently, to be eligible to save with an ABLE program, a person’s disability must onset prior to their 26th birthday. With the passage of the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, the onset age will increase to 46 starting on Jan. 1, 2026, and will expand ABLE access to millions more Americans, including one million Veterans.
ABLE account owners who are employed can also contribute through ABLE to Work, which provides additional employment opportunities and earning potential.
Rep. Cartwright re-introduces legislation to close controversial tax code loophole
U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright this week re-introduced the Bill Pascrell Ending Tax Giveaway Act — legislation aimed at closing the controversial “carried interest loophole.”
Carried interest is a form of compensation received by wealthy private equity and hedge fund executives that is taxed well below top wage income rates.
The bill was originally introduced by the late U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (NJ-09), who represented New Jersey in Congress for more than 27 years before his death on Aug. 21. Pascrell championed legislation to close the carried interest loophole for years, beginning in the 116th Congress.
“Bill was a revered public servant who made tax fairness his top priority and fought to ensure ultra-wealthy Americans benefiting from preferential tax treatments would finally pay their fair share,” said Cartwright. “I’m proud to reintroduce this legislation in Bill’s honor. The carried interest loophole is yet another way special interests have rigged the system to their advantage, at the expense of everyday taxpayers. Wealthy fund managers shouldn’t pay less taxes than hardworking Americans.”
Cartwright said multiple organizations signed on to endorse Pascrell’s original legislation. When it was introduced, the following comments were made:
—David Kass, Executive Director of Americans for Tax Fairness:
“Americans for Tax Fairness strongly endorses this legislation to ensure that private equity, real estate and hedge fund executives pay the same top tax rate on their income that other working Americans pay on theirs. This egregious loophole has survived thanks to hefty campaign contributions and backroom deals. It’s time to close this loophole once and for all.”
—Morris Pearl, Chair of Patriotic Millionaires:
“There is absolutely no economic or moral justification for the continued existence of the carried interest loophole. Ultra-wealthy private equity and hedge fund managers do not need or deserve preferential tax treatment on income they earn from managing other people’s money. There is no shortage of people willing to work as hedge fund managers. If Congress needs to give a special tax incentive to get people to fill a need, they should have teachers or emergency room nurses pay half the tax rates that everyone else pays. Lawmakers need to show the American people that they have the guts to stand up to Wall Street and pass the Ending Wall Street Tax Giveaway Act to get rid of this egregious, pointless, and outrageous loophole once and for all.”
—Porter McConnell, Take on Wall Street Campaign Director at Americans for Financial Reform:
“Private equity and hedge fund executives rig the tax code so they pay less than Black, white, and Brown working people. Carried interest is the textbook example of Wall Street’s tax cheats. It’s time to pass the Ending Wall Street Tax Giveaway Act and close this outrageous loophole.”
—Dan Mauer, Director of Government Affairs for the Communications Workers of America (CWA):
“For far too long, the carried interest loophole has allowed millionaire Wall Street hedge fund and private equity managers to pay lower tax rates than the working families who carry and continue to build the American economy. CWA is proud to support the Ending Wall Street Tax Giveaway Act, as it levels the playing field by closing that arcane tax loophole and forcing Wall Street to pay their fair share.”
State invests $200,000 to train more than 2,000 students in robotics
Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) Director of Workforce Development Initiatives Gwen Ross this week announced the Shapiro Administration’s new $200,000 investment in the Robotic WorX program at Millersville University, which equips high school and undergraduate students with the opportunity to address genuine manufacturing problems through automation and robotics.
The new Manufacturing PA Training-to-Career (MTTC) grant will create paid student internships and support training and supplies for the program in Millersville University’s state-of-the-art Solutions Lab. The state’s investment will help ensure that financial barriers do not prevent talented students from participating in the training program.
“Investing in programs like Millersville University’s Robotic WorX is essential to building a skilled workforce and strengthening Pennsylvania’s manufacturing industry,” said Director Ross. “The Shapiro Administration is proud to invest in advanced technology training programs like this one that inspire students and adults and helps put them on the path to a good paying manufacturing career.”
With help from the MTTC grant, the Robotic WorX program expects to impact more than 2,000 individuals over the next two years through increased high school participation, additional internship, peer mentoring and engagement events for local organizations. The program provides a link between STEM education and career pathways through internships, job shadow experiences and tours in which participants engage with cutting-edge automation and robotics technologies.
“We’re very thankful for the grant from the Shapiro Administration,” said John Haughery, Robotic WorX Co-Founder and Program Coordinator of Millersville’s Automation & Robotics Engineering Technology program. “The Robotic WorX program provides so many entry points to Pennsylvania’s automation and robotics pipeline. From first time experience with robotics, to getting your hands on a collaborative robot, to spending a semester long internship developing state-of-the-art automation technologies for real manufacturing problems in PA and beyond, this program offers so much to so many,”
A partnership between Millersville University and Precision Cobotics, the Robotic WorX program connects middle school, high school, undergraduate and community groups in Lancaster County with real-world STEM career training in manufacturing to meet the growing need of the region’s industry.
“This hands-on experience, using the latest in AI and robotics technologies, creates clear career pathways in this exciting field,” said John Bridgen, Robotic WorX Co-Founder and Director of Customer Satisfaction and Co-Worker Advancement at Precision Cobotics. “I found my passion for the field of automation and manufacturing when I was given a college internship in the packaging department at M&M/Mars in Elizabethtown. This grant from the Shapiro Administration pays that forward by allowing us to connect the real-world problems of manufacturing in Pennsylvania with area high school STEM students.”
The MTTC grant program works collaboratively with local manufacturers to identify and teach missing essential skills for entry level applicants seeking manufacturing employment, engage youth or those with barriers to career opportunities in manufacturing, and/or advance capacity for local or regional manufacturers.
Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
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