Andrew Abramczyk

Senior Fellow

Andrew specializes in fiscal policy including the state budget and public finance. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.  
Prior to joining Commonwealth Foundation he worked in the investment business for nearly a decade.

And Then What? Reforms Beyond the Current Budget

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • October 22, 2020

In any case, the budget will get balanced. For Pennsylvanians, the real question is: “And then what?” Pennsylvania’s budget problems preceded the virus shutdown and will continue long after it without real reform. Listed below are areas where lawmakers…

Backgrounder

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How to Balance the Budget: Revenue Options

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • October 2, 2020

Pennsylvania’s partial-year budget to fund the government through November relied on federal emergency aid to patch a prospective deficit. The state cannot count on such extra resources in the future.

Backgrounder

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Government Accountability

Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 3

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • May 20, 2020

The state government uses special entities to borrow in excess of the constitutional debt limit and make loans and guarantees that would otherwise be illegal.

Report

Read More: Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 3

Taxes & Economy

Pennsylvania Turnpike Blues

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • May 6, 2020

A sudden drop in traffic has exposed the toll road's reckless debt load.

Commentary

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Taxes & Economy

State Unemployment Fund Returns to Crisis

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • April 6, 2020

The unemployment insurance fund was neither properly replenished nor reformed after running out of money in 2008. It is about to run out of money again.  …

Commentary

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Education

Slots for Scholars?

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • March 5, 2020

Use of gambling revenue to fund colleges is both economically and morally questionable.

Commentary

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Health Care

No Easy Pass This Year on Cost Overruns

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • March 3, 2020

Legislators are questioning the administration's chronic overspending habit, but they aren't getting many answers.

Commentary

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State Budget

Mid-Year Budget Briefing: $779 Million Projected Overspend

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • January 2, 2020

This week is the midpoint of the commonwealth fiscal year, which ends on June 30. Every year, as required by law, the Office of the Budget gives a mid-year budget briefing…

Media

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Education

Pension Pacman Must Be Stopped

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • December 31, 2019

Next fiscal year Pennsylvania school districts will pay $4.9 billion into PSERS, the state teachers’ pension fund.1 Less than one quarter of that amount will fund new benefits earned by…

Media

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Government Accountability

How to Make an Easy Six Million

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • December 10, 2019

A week ago the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office announced charges against Wing Tat Chiu and Ivy Hiu-Ying Li, a married couple whom they accuse of earning $6 million in illegal…

Media

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State Budget

It Won’t Get Easier: Our Take on the State’s Five Year Outlook

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • November 18, 2019

Last week the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) presented its annual set of fiscal and economic projections for the next five years. The full report and summary presentation are available…

Media

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Regulation

The O-Zone Hole

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • November 15, 2019

State and national governments sometimes designate “Economic Opportunity Zones,” geographic areas wherein they give tax breaks to incentivize investment. If opportunity zones are such a great idea, though, why not…

Media

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State Budget

Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 2

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • October 28, 2019

The state legislature controls less than half of all state revenue. The rest is on autopilot, flowing automatically through a maze of accounts and undermining the constituional plan for accountabilty…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 2