High taxes make for a slow-growing economy. And communities feel the pinch of high taxes as more and more native Pennsylvanians leave the Keystone State to prosper elsewhere. To remain economically competitive, Pennsylvania must lower state taxes and ensure businesses have the opportunity to succeed. Lower taxes will incentivize more individuals to call Pennsylvania their home, ultimately spurring our statewide economy forward.

Health Care

Effect of ObamaCare on Pennsylvania

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 11, 2009

The Heritage Foundation has a new analysis from the Lewin Group on the impact in Pennsylvania on private health care coverage, the uninsured, and physicians and hospitals of the…

Media

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Health Care

Rendell Declares Autism Mandate a Failure

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 10, 2009

In 2008, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed, and Gov. Rendell signed, a new mandate that private insurers would have to cover autism services. At the time, we said the new…

Media

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State Budget

Cash for Clunkers Falls Prey to Laws of Economics

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 10, 2009

Congress’s  ill-named “cash for clunkers” program has, like so many programs before it, failed to defy the laws of economics. As typically happens when government subsidizes something – the…

Media

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Health Care

Join the “Mob”

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 10, 2009

You might find it interesting that the special interests who denounce individuals voicing opposition to ObamaCare as “astroturf,” a “mob,” and part of a vast right-wing conspiracy (and occasionally…

Media

Read More: Join the “Mob”

Health Care

Attacking the Messengers on Health Care Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 7, 2009

President Obama, Dick Durbin, the unions, and shills at MSNBC have taken to calling protesters who disagree with their health care agenda as shills for corporate interests or “the…

Media

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Regulation

Philadelphia Needs Neither Higher Taxes nor Generational Theft

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 6, 2009

The Pennsylvania House yesterday passed a bill that would allow Philadelphia to raise its sales tax another percentage point and to defer it pension payments for city employees further…

Media

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Health Care

Is Dissent Still the Highest Form of Patriotism?

  • August 5, 2009

It seems that the President is very upset that people are actually questioning his health care plan. So much so that the White House wants to be informed…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Make Drill Here, Drill Now a Reality

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • August 5, 2009

Remember Drill Here Drill Now campaign? It’s one approval away from becoming a reality. As of October 1, 2008 no moratoriums exist on offshore oil and gas development, however,…

Media

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State Budget

Ed Rendell Demands More Taxes

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 5, 2009

At a press conference yesterday, Gov. Rendell says he will “compromise” on the budget – so long as he gets $1.6 billion in new revenue.  That he, he needs…

Media

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Health Care

Universal Healthcare Will Render Us Poorer

  • August 4, 2009

The democrat health-care system is a systematic move toward a single payer universal health-care system. President Barack Obama has contended that the private system will continue to exist, but…

Media

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State Budget

States Have Only Themselves to Blame for Fiscal Mess

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 4, 2009

Steve Chapman writes on Reason.com that there’s nothing surprising about the crises in state budgets though it apparently caught many governors and legislators by surprise. States dramatically increased spending…

Media

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Health Care

The Two Big Lies of Health Care “Reform”

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 3, 2009

Here are a couple of good readings on health care policy: The Hoover Institution has a “second opinion” with ten reasons why health care in the U.S. is…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Where Were These Guys a Few Months Ago?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 3, 2009

At a recent town-hall meeting, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said he had to ‘hold my nose’ over bailouts. I wish he had expressed some of those misgivings when…

Media

Read More: Where Were These Guys a Few Months Ago?

Taxes & Economy

Energy Conservation Myth is a Vicious Cycle

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • August 3, 2009

Studies from the McKinsey group and National Research Council released this week claim that we can substantially reduce the country’s energy usage (15-32% by 2020) by replacing inefficient appliances…

Media

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Regulation

Pennsylvania’s Flawed Film Tax Credit: What the ERA study won’t tell you

  • July 31, 2009

The Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee contracted with Economics Research Associates (ERA)1 to analyze Pennsylvania’s Film Tax Credit (FTC).  In general, the ERA report, “Pennsylvania’s Film Production Tax Credit…

Fact Sheet

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Health Care

Reasons ObamaCare Is Wrong for America

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 31, 2009

The Heritage Foundation has, on their new health care website, the Top 10 Reasons Obamacare Is Wrong for America, starting with the fact that individuals would lose their current…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Federal Spending by the Numbers

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 31, 2009

The Heritage Foundation has a new report on federal spending. The short document includes lots of good tables and charts showing the effects of Bush-Obama spending increases.

Media

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Energy

Electricity Restructuring and Rate Caps

  • July 30, 2009

With electricity rate caps expiring, state lawmakers are concerned that Pennsylvanians will see steep increases in their utility bills. What will happen as the electricity deregulation, which is more accurately…

Fact Sheet

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