It doesn’t surprise us in any way that Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest and last budget proposal is a mixed bag.

We commend the governor, in his last year before term limits will prompt his retirement, for at least one great idea: Reducing the state’s corporate income tax rate.

The state’s 9.99% tax rate on corporate income is one of the highest in the country. Maryland’s top corporate tax rate is 8.25%. New York’s top corporate tax rate is 7.25%. West Virginia’s is 6.5%. Virginia’s and Michigan’s are 6%.

Reducing our corporate tax rate — and Wolf’s plan calls for gradually reducing it to 5.99% by 2027 — would help Pennsylvania’s communities lure employers from our neighboring states, bringing much-needed jobs to Pennsylvania.

Wolf first proposed cutting the state’s corporate tax rate in his first year as governor, while also closing loopholes so that the tax would be fairly and evenly applied to Pennsylvania’s businesses. We credit Wolf for continuing to advocate for a better tax climate for employers and potential employers.

We also agree with Wolf that the state needs to increase the minimum wage, though we remain skeptical that rural parts of the state need to see it as high as the $15 an hour his gradual increases will reach and believe smaller increments to a lower target would be more reasonable. We also are grateful, as state Rep. Jeff Wheeland noted, that economic conditions already are pushing wages up more naturally.

Unfortunately, while there are some good ideas in this budget plan, there are far more bad ideas.

As state Rep. Joe Hamm, R-Hepburn Township notes, this budget increases spending by about $6.2 billion and about 16.7% from the previous year’s budget.

Such an enormous increase is baffling when unemployment continues to fall, wages and salaries are rising throughout the country and in Pennsylvania.

We could perhaps see the logic of an increase in spending if the country was at the precipice of a recession. But an increase in spending when the economy is emerging from the toll of a pandemic and economic slowdown is counterintuitive. It leaves the state ill-equipped to handle the next downturn.

Our Republican lawmakers’ prudence is correct. The state should continue to build up its reserves so it has the option for tax rebates or increased assistance programs when that downturn arrives.

State Sen. Gene Yaw also is right to sound the alarm again about Wolf’s commitment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. If Yaw’s predictions of increased electric and utility bills come true — or even if they miss the 36% increases he foresees and only come partially true — the hit to homeowners’ pocketbooks may see that downturn arrive sooner rather than later.

While we support the efforts to reduce the state’s corporate income tax and raise the minimum wage, as a whole this budget plan spends too much, includes proposals that could lead to higher utility bills and is reckless in disregarding what steps the state may need to take in a downturn.