Commentary

Taxes & Economy

The Real Victims of a Severance Tax

• June 7, 2011

Jim VanBlarcom, a busy Bradford County dairy farmer, set a work day aside to come to Harrisburg and tell his story to Gov. Tom Corbett's Marcellus Shale panel. Royalty money…

Commentary

Education

Pa. Education – A State of Emergency

• June 1, 2011

At the start of our nation, founding father John Adams was as concerned with the positive development of our offspring as he was with that of the republic.  Seeing the…

Commentary

Education

Spending for Higher Education Doesn’t Create Economic Growth

• May 19, 2011

The Coleman Report, published in 1966, and subsequent experience and analysis has demolished the idea that inputs alone are very useful in explaining the output of K-12. As the college…

Commentary

Education

Saving Our School Boards

• Matthew Brouillette
• May 17, 2011

Schools must be able to furlough teachers based on a broad-based assessment of student needs, not a last-in/first-out requirement that ignores teachers' classroom performance, ability to connect with students, grasp…

Commentary

Regulation

A Penny Saved or a Penny Burned?

• Nathan Benefield
• May 11, 2011

For any family, saving a few dollars for the future and paying off credit card bills would be the fiscally prudent path.  Likewise, state lawmakers should resist the temptation to…

Commentary

Energy

Economic Pitfalls of Taxing Marcellus Shale

• May 9, 2011

The facts are that in Pennsylvania, Marcellus drillers contributed more than $15 billion in capital investment and have paid in excess of $5 billion in royalties to landowners not including…

Commentary

Education

A Pitt Student’s Take on Corbett’s Budget Proposal

• April 27, 2011

As a Pitt student, I will not be joining in those manufactured protests, nor will I be participating in lobbying activities like Pitt's yearly "Harrisburg Day" when the University spends…

Commentary

Government Accountability

Bring PA Toward the Mainstream in Limiting Lawsuit Abuse

• April 13, 2011

Having defeated a slew of trial-lawyer amendments, Pennsylvania's House of Representatives approved the Fair Share Act for the third time on Monday. The legislation, which has passed both chambers of the…

Commentary

Education

White-out not Needed for Higher Ed Cuts

• April 11, 2011

Today, the percentage of students enrolling at Pennsylvania's public universities who don't graduate four year ranges from 42-89 percent, with Penn State boasting a mere 58 percent. As for their…

Commentary

Public Union Democracy

Taxpayers First: The New, New Deal

• Matthew Brouillette
• April 7, 2011

Today, the average government employee enjoys better health care benefits, better pensions, better job security, and an earlier retirement than the average private-sector worker.  To pay for this, however, taxpayers…

Commentary

Education

Public Policy and Free Enterprise in Pennsylvania

• Nathan Benefield
• April 5, 2011

Public Policy and Free Enterprise in Pennsylvania represents a partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and the department of economics at Duquesne University.  Key findings in these five papers include Over…

Commentary

Education

Scholars Aren’t Made from Dollars

• Elizabeth Stelle
• April 4, 2011

All indications say academic performance remains inadequate, with thousands of children trapped in failing schools while waiting lists for charter schools and Educational Improvement Tax Credit scholarships grow.  Proponents of…

Commentary

Obamacare: We Can’t Keep the Change

• Nathan Benefield
• March 29, 2011

In the days before the new health care law passed Congress last year, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said that we would "have to pass the bill to find out…

Commentary

Education

The Bubble Bursts at Penn State

• Charles Mitchell
• March 24, 2011

The story is told that when someone asked John D. Rockefeller how much money is enough, he responded, "Just one dollar more."  Penn State's President, Graham Spanier, like most college…

Commentary

Regulation

Retaining the Film Tax Credit: Two Thumbs Down for Taxpayers

• March 17, 2011

Behind the lens of Gov. Tom Corbett's budget the focus is largely on putting taxpayers first and fostering economic growth. But at a time when the director should be yelling,…

Commentary

State Budget

Corbett Budget Offers a New Path

• Nathan Benefield
• March 10, 2011

Albert Einstein defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  For too long Pennsylvania state government has been spending beyond its means and…

Commentary

Spending Transparency Coming to Pennsylvania?

• Elizabeth Stelle
• March 2, 2011

PennWATCH (House Bill 15), sponsored by Rep. Jim Christiana, would create a user-friendly database with searchable information on all state government spending. The bill passed the Pennsylvania House unanimously on…

Commentary

Education

School Daze Ends with Choice

• Matthew Brouillette
• February 9, 2011

If Pennsylvania's public schools are broken, why don't we just fix them?  Easier said than done, of course, but it's not from a lack of trying.  For decades, taxpayers, parents…

Commentary

Education

Parents Need Choices & Control of Their Children’s Education

• Nathan Benefield
• January 26, 2011

Almost 40,000 students used an EITC scholarship last year—with an average value of $1,000—to attend a better or safer school. The average annual family income for these students was only…

Commentary

Regulation

Fixing Rendell’s Mess

• Nathan Benefield
• January 20, 2011

Penn's Woods are darker and deeper in red ink than ever before thanks to the tax-borrow-and-spend agenda of the Rendell Administration and some General Assembly members who failed to put…

Commentary

Education

How Corbett can Balance the Budget without Raising Taxes

• Matthew Brouillette
• January 17, 2011

Even before Gov.-elect Tom Corbett raises his right hand high Tuesday swearing to tackle the problems left from the previous administration's tax-borrow-and-spend agenda, doubters are lining up to take potshots…

Commentary