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.

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

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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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Taxes & Economy

Libertarian ideas to stimulate economy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 7, 2009

Jeffrey A. Miron has a list of libertarian proposals to stimulate the economy (I would expect most self-described “conservatives” would agree with 8 of the 9 proposals): Repeal the…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

The GOP Has a Dumb Mortgage Idea

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 5, 2009

In the Wall Street Journal, Ed Glaeser rips the US Senate GOP’s plans to underwrite mortgages and offer an additional tax credit for home-buyers More criticism of this…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Commonwealth Foundation Launches Please, No More Taxes! Campaign

  • February 5, 2009

HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation today announced the launch of the Please, No More Taxes! campaign, a public education effort aimed at the elimination of wasteful state spending and…

Press Release

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Education

Economists Against Governor Rendell

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 4, 2009

In his budget address, Governor Rendell cited “conservative” economists who support the stimulus package and his spending proposals, even though they don’t. Here is Rendell: Economists from…

Media

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State Budget

PA Budget by the Numbers

  • Nathan Benefield
  • February 4, 2009

The 2009-10 budget is $28.97 billion, rather than the $26.6 billion as is being reported. The difference being that it relies on $2.4 billion in one-time federal “stimulus” money. That…

Media

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