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.

Regulation

Stimulating the Pennsylvania Economy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 19, 2008

Here is video from yesterday’s luncheon on “Stimulating PA’s Economy: Tax Cuts v. ‘Rebates'”. Click here for more videos from the Commonwealth Foundation.

Media

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Health Care

Are “Large Health Savings Accounts” the Answer?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 19, 2008

Michael Cannon has a paper on “Large Health Savings Accounts” in the Forum for Health Economics & Policy (registration required). Also listen to his Cato Podcast on the…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Concerns About Turnpike Lease Misguided

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 19, 2008

Testimony before the PA House Transportation Committee Good morning. I am Nathan Benefield, Director of Policy Research for the Commonwealth Foundation. We are a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research…

Testimony

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Taxes & Economy

Pennsylvania has 2nd highest corporate tax – in the world

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 18, 2008

A new report from the The Tax Foundation finds that Pennsylvania’s combined federal and local corporate income tax rate is higher than any other industrialized nation, and trails only…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

John Baer: Nutter & Obama are awesome

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 18, 2008

When Saturday Night Live made a mockery of the media’s gushing over Barack Obama, I was surprised at how quickly media-types responded by leveling some criticism and by starting some…

Media

Read More: John Baer: Nutter & Obama are awesome

Health Care

Competition Solves Health Care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 18, 2008

Tom Coburn op-ed in The New York Sun on why free markets are the solution to health care, and government programs are the problem. While government’s role in…

Media

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Health Care

Stateline: Socialized Medicine = Fiscally Conservative

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 17, 2008

Stateline.org has an interesting article on health care funding in the states. The headline reads “On health care, govs are tightening belts.” Here are some examples of “belt-tightening”:…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

PA Ranks 45th in Tort Liability

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 17, 2008

Pacific Research Institute has published their State Tort Liability Rankings for 2008. Pennsylvania ranks a lowly 45th, but is very close to 44th – we have your number, Rhode…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Defending Free Trade

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 15, 2008

The Economist has an editorial defending NAFTA – and the need for the US (and presidential candidates) to drop NAFTA bashing. (HT: The Foundry). On a related front,…

Media

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Health Care

Why aren’t you dead?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 15, 2008

John Goodman’s Health Policy Blog wonders why more people are being poisoned by restaurants – noting how inept public health inspectors are: What keeps you alive is the…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Litigating for Liberty

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 15, 2008

Reason Magazine has a great interview with Chip Mellor, co-founder of the Institute for Justice, on why he believes is “litigating for liberty” – defending parents’ rights to…

Media

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Regulation

Economic Impacts of the Climate Change Bill

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 14, 2008

A new study by the Science Applications International Corporation and sponsored by the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Council for Capital Formation looks at the economic impacts…

Media

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Government Accountability

A Conservative Approach To Universal Health Care

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 13, 2008

Forbes article on the NFIB’s proposed health care agenda which includes allowing individuals to purchase health insurance coverage over state lines, tax deductions for individually purchased insurance, tort…

Media

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Health Care

PA House Rejects Real Health Care Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 12, 2008

The Pennsylvania House passed an amendment (and is expected to pass the bill) that would enact the House Democrats’ “Pennsylvania ABC,” or as I call it, RendellCare 2.0,…

Media

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Health Care

A Short Course in Brain Surgery

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 11, 2008

Video from FreeMarketCure on how government run health care, like that in Canada, is hazardous to your health.

Media

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Regulation

Government on a Diet: Spending Tips 2008

  • Matthew Brouillette, Nathan Benefield
  • March 10, 2008

State government consumption and spending of taxpayer money has grown rapidly over the years. Since 1970, Pennsylvania’s operating budget increased from $4.2 billion to $59 billion in FY 2007-2008, an…

Report

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Regulation

Mutually Exclusive: Pension COLAS and Lower Taxes

  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • March 10, 2008

In Government 101, we learn how a bill becomes law and the circuitous route that, at any stage of the political process, may derail a proposal. In fact, only 6.3%…

Commentary

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Health Care

Pennsylvania proposes to cheat Medicaid

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 10, 2008

Michael Cannon writes that the Rendell administration’s plan to tax Philly and Pittsburgh hospitals, but give them higher reimbursements from Medicaid is a great plan … for Pennsylvania.

Media

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Taxes & Economy

A Philly Tax Cutter?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 10, 2008

City Journal sounding on what Mayor Nutter needs to do to turn the Philadelphia economy around. The results of the city’s hostility toward business are evident. While the…

Media

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Regulation

How government makes things worse

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 10, 2008

Boston Globe piece by Jeff Jacoby covers the “Law of Unintended Consequences” of government intervention. Jacoby takes on government mandates and subsidies for ethanol: But now comes word…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Are We Talking Ourselves Into Recession?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • March 10, 2008

BusinessWeek article on whether the media’s obsession with bad economic news may be driving low consumer confidence and turning a “slowdown” into a recession. Case in point: I recently…

Media

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