Taxes & Economy

PA to Copy Missouri’s Failed Land Banking Policy

  • April 3, 2012

Pennsylvania is close to adopting Missouri’s 40 year old failed land banking policy. House Bill 1682, which has already passed the House and the Senate’s Urban Affairs and…

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Public Union Democracy

Six Ways Prevailing Wage Increases Taxpayers’ Costs

  • Priya Brannick
  • April 2, 2012

This week, the Pennsylvania House is set (yet again) to consider basic reforms to Pennsylvania’s outdated prevailing wage law, which mandates that union-scale wages be paid on taxpayer-funded construction projects…

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State Budget

Human Services Programs Must Deal with Wasteful Spending

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • April 2, 2012

Last week, you couldn’t swing a dead cat in the state capitol without hitting someone protesting Gov. Corbett’s welfare spending reductions. The governor proposed combining six human service line items, such…

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Taxpayers to Unions: We Won’t Get Fooled Again

  • April 2, 2012

So Pennsylvania taxpayers, lawmakers and Pete Townshend walk into a bar… ouch! Seriously though, this week in Harrisburg could produce one heck of a punch line as lawmakers…

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Health Care

Not Why I’m Here

  • Charles Mitchell
  • March 30, 2012

“Why am I here?”  That’s an excellent question to ask yourself if you work in Harrisburg.  This week, as I read a piece by Karen Langley in the Pittsburgh…

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Unions Nailed on Prevailing Wage

  • March 30, 2012

To hear the union boss of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council tell it from his cushy offsite confines, prevailing wage is all about helping local communities…

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State Budget

Do Government Programs Grow the Economy?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 29, 2012

While decades of increased government spending have resulted in economic stagnation, many advocates of increasing government spending claim that their favored program will “grow the economy.” They argue that…

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Education

School Choice in Milwaukee Increases Graduation Rates

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 27, 2012

The latest analysis of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program finds that students receiving scholarships to attend the school of their choice are more likely to graduate from high…

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