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.

Regulation

PA pension funds report major losses

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 17, 2009

Mark Scolforo summarizes the reports from Pennsylvania two statewide pension funds SERS (for state workers) and PSERS (for school district employees): The percentage losses on investments were similar.

Media

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Taxes & Economy

New Study of Business Tax Burdens

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 17, 2009

The Council on State Taxation has released a new study on state and local business taxes.  It is a good primer on what taxes business pay (for instance, I…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

A tax code even a congressman can understand

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 17, 2009

Andrew Moylan editorializes that simplifying the federal tax code would provide an economic “stimulus.” Individual taxpayers spend more than 3.5 billion hours complying with the code. That …

Media

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Health Care

Health Care Policies and Small Business

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 16, 2009

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council has a new report ranking states in terms of their health care policy, as it pertains to small business.  Pennsylvania gets a fairly…

Media

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Health Care

Health Care Policies and Small Business

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 16, 2009

The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council has a new report ranking states in terms of their health care policy, as it pertains to small business.  Pennsylvania gets a fairly…

Media

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Regulation

Philadelphia’s Pension Non-Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 15, 2009

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is proposing addressing the city’s unfunded pension liability by, essentially, not paying as much as the city should (HT GrassrootsPA). Like Pennsylvania’s state…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Feulner blast stimulus process

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 13, 2009

Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner has a scathing open letter to Congress on the stimulus bill: In addition to being the single most expensive bill ever proposed,…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

The Burden of PA Business Taxes

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 13, 2009

The Tribune Review has a story featuring Tax Foundation president Scott Hodge discussing Pennsylvania’s business tax climate at an appearance in Pittsburgh: The state needs…

Media

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Government Accountability

Government on a Diet: Spending Tips 2009

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • February 12, 2009

Government on a Diet: Spending Tips 2009 identifies $5 billion in unhealthy state spending in FY 2008-09 and offers a series of recommendations to both resolve the current revenue shortfall…

Report

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Regulation

CF Report Finds $5 billion in Gov’t Waste

  • February 12, 2009

State gov’t overspending is impeding prosperity and burdening taxpayers HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation today released Government on a Diet: Spending Tips 2009, a report that spotlights how the…

Press Release

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Taxes & Economy

State Budget Shortfalls: Opportunity for Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 12, 2009

The Tax Foundation has a new report (released yesterday) on state budget shortfalls.  Their report concludes that overspending is largely the explanation for state shortfalls today.  (Full report…

Media

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Government Accountability

An end to cronyism in state government?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 12, 2009

The Pennsylvania House GOP has unveiled several proposals to end “pay to play” – including cracking down on the ability of the administration to award of no-bid contracts.  In…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

CF Budget Forum on PCN

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 11, 2009

If you missed todays lunch discussion with Sens. Jake Corman and Jay Costa on the Pennsylvania budget, it is set to air tomorrow at 1 pm on PCN, with…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

CF Budget Forum on PCN

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 11, 2009

If you missed todays lunch discussion with Sens. Jake Corman and Jay Costa on the Pennsylvania budget, it is set to air tomorrow at 1 pm on PCN, with…

Media

Read More: CF Budget Forum on PCN

Taxes & Economy

Tax and Spend Polices are Recipe for Disaster

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 11, 2009

My letter to the editor in the Post-Gazette: The state’s tax-and-spend policies are a recipe for disasterSharon Ward’s Jan. 28 Perspectives piece (“Keep…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

The need to “do something”

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 11, 2009

Matt Lewis has an entertaining post on the need to “do something” with regard to the federal “stimulus” – comparing it to a 19th century doctor pressed to “do…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

More waste, no-bid contracts, in PA budget

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 11, 2009

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner has a draft of an audit blasting the Rendell adminstration for its technology contracts, specifically with Deloitte, the Patriot News Reports.

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Please, No More Taxes! Video Contest

  • February 10, 2009

$4,000 in cash prizes for citizens to help raise awareness of PA’s painful tax burden HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation today announced its Please, No More Taxes!…

Press Release

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Taxes & Economy

How well has more spending worked up until now?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 10, 2009

The Morning Call’s John Micek makes a joke on his blog about the effectiveness of tax cuts in stimulating the economy: Hardcore GOPers, asked for their alternative,…

Media

Read More: How well has more spending worked up until now?

Taxes & Economy

With All Due Respect, Mr. Specter

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 9, 2009

“The country cannot afford not to take action,” Senator Arlen Specter writes in the Washington Post justifying support for the “stimulus” package, mimicking the statement by President Obama “There…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

How Government Created the Financial Crisis

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 9, 2009

John Taylor in the Wall Street Journal on how Government created the financial crisis: Monetary excesses were the main cause of the boom. The Fed held its…

Media

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