Every family, business owner, and taxpayer in Pennsylvania should be able to increase their financial security without undue interference from our state government. Free-market policies that limit taxes, allow entrepreneurs to innovate and create jobs, and offer stability to families will put our state on track to become a national leader. Policies that enact spending limits, cut taxes, and reduce regulations will help Pennsylvania avoid debt and restore sound fiscal planning that will benefit citizens in the years to come.

State Budget

Rendell Ends Taxpayer Funded Legacy Project

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 7, 2010

Reported here earlier, the Rendell administration had been paying a public relations guru to research the “successes” of Rendell’s policies, to be used to lobby for higher taxes. Today.

Media

Read More: Rendell Ends Taxpayer Funded Legacy Project

Regulation

Video: Fiscal Lessons for Pennsylvania

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 7, 2010

In a new video, Maurice McTigue, Vice President at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, speaks about how…

Media

Read More: Video: Fiscal Lessons for Pennsylvania

Taxes & Economy

Obama: More Green for Green Energy

  • June 4, 2010

Recently when speaking about greening the nation’s energy supply in Pittsburgh, President Obama remarked: [A]nd it means rolling back billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil…

Media

Read More: Obama: More Green for Green Energy

State Budget

The State and Local Government Debt Mess

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 4, 2010

While investment guru Warren Buffett is pulling out of municipal bonds, Gov. Rendell says Buffett doesn’t know what he is talking about, and that there is no problem with…

Media

Read More: The State and Local Government Debt Mess

Regulation

Big Idea: Privatizing City Services

  • June 4, 2010

Sandy Springs, GA, is one of the most efficient cities in the country, as reported in the Tribune Review. Incorporated in 2005, it was the first fully privatized…

Media

Read More: Big Idea: Privatizing City Services

Regulation

Why PA Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 3, 2010

Gov. Rendell and his allies and shills that call on higher taxes for businesses like to claim that 70% of Pennsylvania corporations don’t pay…

Media

Read More: Why PA Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes

Taxes & Economy

Presentation: Lessons of Fiscal Responsibility for Pennsylvania

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 3, 2010

Maurice McTigue, Vice President at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, spoke at a Commonwealth Foundation breakfast yesterday.

Media

Read More: Presentation: Lessons of Fiscal Responsibility for Pennsylvania

Regulation

More Evidence on Privatizing Liquor

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 3, 2010

Don Boudreaux and Julia Williams have an op-ed arguing for privatization of Virginia’s state liquor stores, noting little difference between control and license state in alcohol-related deaths, binge drinking,…

Media

Read More: More Evidence on Privatizing Liquor

Taxes & Economy

How Public-Private Toll Roads are Financed

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 2, 2010

Robert Poole clarifies a number of misconceptions about how toll roads are financed – particularly in the cases of public private partnerships for new projects. This is not a…

Media

Read More: How Public-Private Toll Roads are Financed

Regulation

Pennsylvania Budget Facts 2010: Tobacco Taxes

  • June 2, 2010

Gov. Rendell proposed a tax of 30% on the retail price of cigars and smokeless tobacco products, in hopes of collecting $42 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

Fact Sheet

Read More: Pennsylvania Budget Facts 2010: Tobacco Taxes

State Budget

Pennsylvania State Budget Resources

  • June 2, 2010

Pennsylvania faces a projected General Fund tax revenue shortfall of at least $1 billion.  Governor Rendell proposed a $29 billion General Fund budget for 2010-11 that increases businesses taxes, imposes…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Pennsylvania State Budget Resources

State Budget

Pennsylvania Budget Facts 2010: Unemployment Compensation

  • June 2, 2010

Pennsylvania has borrowed over $3 billion from the federal government to keep its unemployment compensation fund solvent. Only California, with three times the population and a much higher unemployment rate,…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Pennsylvania Budget Facts 2010: Unemployment Compensation

State Budget

Welfare Fraud and Abuse

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 2, 2010

Good afternoon, my name is Elizabeth Stelle, and I am a research associate with the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, a non-partisan educational institute based in Harrisburg. Thank you…

Testimony

Read More: Welfare Fraud and Abuse

State Budget

Pennsylvania Deficit Watch: June 2010

  • June 1, 2010

Following May’s tax collections, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue reports that state General Fund revenues are $1.2 billion below estimate for the 2009-10 fiscal year. Tax collections have…

Press Release

Read More: Pennsylvania Deficit Watch: June 2010

Regulation

Rendell: Democrats will Do Well if Voters Ignore the Policy Debate

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 1, 2010

The Wall Street Journal recently published an interview with Gov. Rendell that highlighted Rendell’s analysis of policy issues – the stimulus, Wall Street/bailouts, and Immigration – at least in…

Media

Read More: Rendell: Democrats will Do Well if Voters Ignore the Policy Debate

Taxes & Economy

Follies of Pittsburgh’s Beverage Tax

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • June 1, 2010

This week the student-run Publius Foundation think tank in Pittsburgh released their second study. Looking at the proposed Pittsburgh Beverage Tax, the brief concludes soda taxes harm the economy…

Media

Read More: Follies of Pittsburgh’s Beverage Tax

Taxes & Economy

Top Mann Nemesis: He’s Not a Fraud

  • May 28, 2010

The person who was most instrumental in debunking Penn State scientist Michael Mann‘s hockey stick chart, Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit, said at a climate realists’ conference last week…

Media

Read More: Top Mann Nemesis: He’s Not a Fraud

Regulation

Tobacco Tax Fact Check

  • May 28, 2010

The misinformation that comes out of the Policy and Budget Center (PBC) amazes me. Here is the first post of a two-part fact-checking on taxing smokeless tobacco products…

Media

Read More: Tobacco Tax Fact Check

Regulation

Pennsylvania’s Film Tax Credit is a Flop

  • May 28, 2010

Pennsylvania’s film tax credit program has exhausted its limits for the year, to much moaning from the film industry lobbyists. Sharon Pinkenson, Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office,…

Media

Read More: Pennsylvania’s Film Tax Credit is a Flop

Taxes & Economy

Marcellus Drillers Exceed DEP Safety Standards

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 27, 2010

At a community forum in Luzerne County Scott Perry, Director of Oil and Gas Management for the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) explained how Marcellus natural gas drillers are…

Media

Read More: Marcellus Drillers Exceed DEP Safety Standards