In January, Pennsylvania lawmakers received a 5.2% cost of living pay raise. But that wasn't enough, so they voted themselves (in the middle of the night) another 16 percent to 34 percent pay raise. Now Pennsylvania has the most expensive slate of government lawmakers in the nation. Pennsylvania's payroll is twice the size of California's - a state with double the population.

In Pennsylvania, the base compensation for state legislators after this latest pay grab ranges from $81,050 to $145,553, not counting the free cars, gas, generous defined-benefit pensions, fully paid prescription coverage, free dental and vision insurance, free parking, "walking around money," fully paid life insurance and long-term care insurance, expense accounts, and the no-receipt $128 daily reimbursement for every day the Legislature is in session, whether the legislator spends the money or not.

And that's not the end of the self-aggrandizement. By way of a provision that's built into this year's pay raise, on top of automatic and inflated cost-of-living increases, lawmakers' paychecks in Pennsylvania will go up each time the House and Senate members in Washington give themselves a raise.

Additionally, in order to sidestep the section of Pennsylvania's Constitution that forbids lawmakers from voting themselves raises that take effect during their current terms, the politicians will pocket the new money by use of no-receipt "unvouchered expenses."

None of the above costs to taxpayers includes the price of the legislators' staffs. Not surprisingly, Pennsylvania is at the top of the pile when it comes to the number of friends, relatives and other assorted helpers the state politicians have added to their payrolls. With a legislative support staff that's 2,947 strong, that breaks down to 11.6 staffers per Harrisburg lawmaker.

The article goes on to note that the pay and benefit package for the lawmakers and their staff amounts to $462 Million annually. "Based on the 77 days per year that the Legislature averages in session, that comes out to $6 million per day."

That's not a bad haul for 4 months worth of work. Did you get a 30% raise this year? Maybe Pennsylvanians should vote themselves a raise, by sending the lawmakers home and cutting their tax rates.