HARRISBURG -- After several weeks of hearing Gov. Ed Rendell and other Democrats "refusing to rule out" increases in the state personal income tax, conservative, business and anti-tax groups struck back yesterday.

"A tax increase causes people to vote with their feet. They will move to other states," Al Bienstock of Citizens Against Higher Taxes told a state Capitol rally of about 125 people, organized by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry.

"Businesses in Pennsylvania are in competition with other states and other countries," said David Taylor of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association. "The last thing our employers can stand is more stupidity out of Harrisburg."

Terry Moore, a construction company owner from Cranberry, said he rode a motorcycle from Butler County to appear at the rally.

"It's time for Gov. Rendell to get out of my pocket," he said. "Ed, my wallet is empty. It's time for you to start living responsibly."

The rally was planned before yesterday's vote by the Democrat-controlled House Appropriations Committee, which rejected, along party lines, a $27.3 billion, bare-bones budget plan approved by Senate Republicans. No Democrats appeared at the rally.

Mr. Rendell has proposed a $29 billion budget with higher spending for education, public welfare and prisons, but said recently he will soon propose about $500 million in reductions. That would still leave him about $1.2 billion higher than the Republican budget.

GOP legislators have complained that the governor still isn't making enough spending reductions and have vowed to vote against any tax increases.

Mr. Rendell wants to increase tobacco taxes and institute a new tax on natural gas extracted from areas of Marcellus shale. He also wants to tap the state's $750 million Rainy Day Fund for economic emergencies. He has said an income tax increase would be "a last resort."

Numerous education advocates, hospital and nursing home groups, parks, library and museum groups and others have complained about the severe spending reductions contained in the Senate-passed budget plan. Republicans say the state must live within its means, as ordinary citizens must do.

State Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, a Rendell ally, has said a "compromise" budget must be reached for fiscal 2009-10, which starts July 1. He would combine some tax increases with spending cuts to balance the budget. Fiscal problems are getting worse due to the current recession, as state revenues are expected to be at least $3 billion below estimates by June 30.

Mr. Evans has talked about the Legislature being forced to raise the 3.07 percent income tax rate to erase the red ink. But Matthew Brouillette, head of the conservative Commonwealth Foundation, said, "Raising taxes in a recession is the wrong prescription for our economic ills."

Mr. Rendell has talked about a "temporary" increase in the personal income tax, lasting, perhaps, for three or four years, to give the economy a chance to recover.

But conservatives said the chances of state officials ever lowering a tax in the future are slim. "Remember the Johnstown flood tax?" said Patrick Gleason of the Americans for Tax Reform.

The 18 percent levy on alcohol was enacted to pay for repairs after the 1936 Johnstown flood and has never been repealed.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, sharply criticized the protesters, saying that if the Legislature doesn't give local school districts additional state funds, they will just have to increase property taxes on their residents.

He said he is also opposed to "protecting special interests such as the tobacco industry and natural gas drillers. Should we keep cigars, pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco tax-free, or should we fund our schools properly?"