Taxes & Economy
How Do Pennsylvania’s Highways Rank
The Reason Foundation has been analyzing state highway systems since 1984. This month they released their 18th Annual Highway Report. Overall the Commonwealth ranked 38th for the most efficient…
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How Dumb is the Jobs Bill?
So the logic behind Stimulus 3, or the so-called “jobs bill” is that the first stimulus (the Bush stimulus of 2008, predicated largely on tax rebates) worked so well the…
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The Trillion Dollar (and then some) Pension Gap
The Pew Report on state pensions, finding a $1 trillion unfunded liability nationally, has already received a great deal of attention, so here are just some brief highlights for…
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Rendell Lured to Stimulus Like a Moth to a Flame
The lure of federal stimulus funds is encouraging Pennsylvania to spend more of state taxpayers’ money as well. Here are three examples: The Commonwealth was awarded $35 million through the…
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PA Lawmakers Use Per Diems to Buy Houses
I have often remarked that the exorbitant costs of Pennsylvania legislators’ per diems (see Tribune Review and ABC 27 stories) – that they receive to pay for food…
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Lower Legislative Pay = Better Government
A new study of state legislative pay and party competition in the American Political Science Review, finds that, in addition to greater party competition, modest pay for legislators leads…
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Did the Stimulus Raise Unemployment?
Alan Reynolds takes a nuanced approach to where stimulus funding went, and why it didn’t “create jobs” or increase GDP, and probably increased unemployment: [T]he GDP report clearly…
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How Rendell’s Cigar Tax Will Hurt Pennsylvania Businesses
For the second year in a row, Gov. Rendell has proposed a tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco, assuming this will have no impact on jobs or the economy. (As…
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Pension Obligation Bonds: Worst Idea Ever
Rick Dreyfuss has a new article for the Mackinac Center in Michigan, where lawmakers are floating the idea of Pension Obligation Bonds to help fill their pension gap. Of…
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