Prosperity
New Year, New Taxes in Pennsylvania
Originally published at RealClearPennsylvania The new year is always a great opportunity to shed vices like smoking and binge eating. For state and local lawmakers, their guilty pleasure tends…
Read More: New Year, New Taxes in PennsylvaniaHigh 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
New Paradigm Equals New Opportunities
The global environment for transportation financing is entering a new paradigm. Like many states, Pennsylvania finds itself at the convergence of two intersecting trends that demand fiscal attention: First, growing…
Commentary
Read More: New Paradigm Equals New OpportunitiesTaxes & Economy
Financing and Managing Transportation in PA
Commonwealth Foundation report recommends Public-Private Partnerships Harrisburg, PA — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation released a new report, The Emerging Paradigm: Financing and Managing Pennsylvania’s Transportation Infrastructure and Mass Transit, which…
Press Release
Read More: Financing and Managing Transportation in PATaxes & Economy
The Emerging Paradigm: Financing and Managing Pennsylvanias Transportation Infrastructure and Mass Transit
In November 2006, Governor Ed Rendell’s Pennsylvania Transportation Funding and Reform Commission identified a $1.7 billion annual shortfall in funding for the Commonwealth’s transportation infrastructure and mass transit services. The…
Report
Read More: The Emerging Paradigm: Financing and Managing Pennsylvanias Transportation Infrastructure and Mass TransitTaxes & Economy
Higher Taxes Wont Cure Cancer
Governor Ed Rendell has, on occasion, joked that some state lawmakers would oppose any tax increase, “even if we could cure cancer tomorrow.” Unfortunately, Governor Rendell adopts the opposite view…
Commentary
Read More: Higher Taxes Wont Cure CancerTaxes & Economy
Act 1: Who Wins, Who Loses?
Commonwealth Foundation provides guide to Gov. Rendell’s Property Tax Relief Act Harrisburg, PA — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation released an analysis of the impact Act 1 of the 2006 Special…
Press Release
Read More: Act 1: Who Wins, Who Loses?Taxes & Economy
Taxpayers Guide to the Rendell Property Tax Relief Act of 2006
For more than three decades, Pennsylvania policymakers have repeatedly attempted to devise a mechanism to reduce school district property taxes on homeowners. Such a mechanism has been elusive. A number…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Taxpayers Guide to the Rendell Property Tax Relief Act of 2006State Budget
State Government Spending
Over the last several decades, the growth in state government spending has exceeded both the rate of inflation and increases in the income of citizens. Unlimited government spending growth has…
Fact Sheet
Read More: State Government SpendingTaxes & Economy
Protecting the Taxpayers
Proposals will help Gov. Rendell make government live within its means HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation joined Senator Bob Regola (R-Westmoreland), Senator Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon), and other members of…
Press Release
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The Pension and Healthcare Non-Crisis
Despite the well-documented unfunded liabilities in Pennsylvania’s largest public employee pension plans (PSERS and SERS), the response from Harrisburg to the coming fiscal crisis ranges from denial to paralysis. Following…
Commentary
Read More: The Pension and Healthcare Non-CrisisHealth Care
Governor Rendell’s Healthcare Misdiagnosis
As healthcare costs continue to rise faster than consumers’ ability to pay, it is clear that we need to alter how we pay for healthcare. Recently, Governor Rendell unveiled a…
Commentary
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CF Responds to Democratic Party Chairman on RendellCare
TJ RooneyDemocratic State Committee300 North 2nd Street8th FloorHarrisburg, PA 17101 Dear TJ: I am writing in response to your personal letter to me (which I have…
Press Release
Read More: CF Responds to Democratic Party Chairman on RendellCareHealth Care
Treating the Symptom Rather than the Cause
Governor Rendell wants to expand health insurance to 767,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians by increasing taxes on employers and tobacco users, to name just a few. The full costs have yet to…
Commentary
Read More: Treating the Symptom Rather than the CauseTaxes & Economy
Public-Private Partnerships: Paying for Our Paving
Pennsylvania is facing a $1.7 billion annual shortfall in funding for roads, bridges and mass transit. The only thing worse than the deficit is the proposed “solution” to this shortfall:…
Commentary
Read More: Public-Private Partnerships: Paying for Our PavingTaxes & Economy
For Sale: Harrisburg Senators (No, Not Those Senators)
In Pennsylvania and across the United States, taxpayers don’t need to look very hard to find examples of wasteful, unconstitutional, or just plain wrongheaded government spending decisions. One of the…
Commentary
Read More: For Sale: Harrisburg Senators (No, Not Those Senators)Taxes & Economy
Governor Rendell, Fiscal Conservative
Commonwealth Foundation applauds veto of HB 1813 Harrisburg, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives applauded Governor Rendell’s decision to veto HB 1813, despite overwhelming support for…
Press Release
Read More: Governor Rendell, Fiscal ConservativeTaxes & Economy
Ranking of least, most dangerous cities
First the World Series, now The Most Dangerous City: St. Louis beats Detroit for the title. Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Reading, and Allentown all rank near the bottom of the list. Listed…
Media
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Overspending on Roads
Rep. Curt Schroder has uncovered wasteful, pork-barrel spending on roads. The Rendell Administration’ recent reclassified certain highway maintenance projects as “construction projects.” As construction projects, they are subject to…
Media
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Importing Poverty: Immigration and Poverty in the United States
Heritage Foundation Report: Importing Poverty: Immigration and Poverty in the United States: A Book of Charts…
Media
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What Is Consumer-Directed Health Care?
In the wake of expanding government-run health care in PA, here is a primer on Consumer-Driven Health Care Reform by John Goodman (of NCPA, not The Big Lebowski)…
Media
Read More: What Is Consumer-Directed Health Care?Taxes & Economy
Ethanol: Bad for the Environment?
NCPA Summary of research showing that shifting ethanol and E-85 lead to greater gasoline usage and harm the environment. Yet government mandates and taxpayer subsidy of ethanol remain the…
Media
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Senate passes version of “Cover All Kids”
Patriot News Update on the PA Senate’s passage of their version “Cover All Kids.” The specifics require a higher proportion of costs for families over 235% of the federal…
Media
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