State Budget
Pennsylvanians Are in Dire Need of Tax Reform
Originally published by RealClearPennsylvania. Today is Tax Day. Each year, April 15th reminds us of the costliness of government spending – and why lawmakers must reduce this financial burden on…
Read More: Pennsylvanians Are in Dire Need of Tax ReformHigh 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.
Education
Count the Costs of Pre-K Counts
Academic and financial costs of taxpayer-funded preschool questioned, alternatives proposed at news conference HARRISBURG, PA — Today, the Commonwealth Foundation joined with a coalition of organizations to call on lawmakers…
Press Release
Read More: Count the Costs of Pre-K CountsTaxes & Economy
Is State Government Ready for a Spending Diet?
Taxpayer Protection bills sent to Senate floor HARRISBURG, PA — Today, the State Senate Finance Committee voted to send the Taxpayer Protection Act (SB 707) and the Taxpayer Protection Amendment…
Press Release
Read More: Is State Government Ready for a Spending Diet?Taxes & Economy
Protecting the Taxpayers
Thank you Senator Corman, Senator Folmer, and members of the Senate Majority Policy Committee for the opportunity to testify on the proposed Taxpayer Protection Act (SB 7) and Taxpayer Protection…
Commentary
Read More: Protecting the TaxpayersTaxes & Economy
Lost Jobs, Lost Opportunities: The Reality of the Minimum Wage Hike
In 2006, Governor Ed Rendell argued that hiking Pennsylvania’s minimum wage by 39% would not lead to lost jobs and opportunities for low-wage workers. Unfortunately, Mr. Rendell has already been…
Commentary
Read More: Lost Jobs, Lost Opportunities: The Reality of the Minimum Wage HikeTaxes & Economy
Act 1 Property-to-Income Tax Shift
On May 15, 2007, voters across the Commonwealth will be asked to vote on a property-to-income tax shift to pay for public education expenditures. The Property Tax Relief Act of…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Act 1 Property-to-Income Tax ShiftTaxes & Economy
Happy Tax Freedom Day, Pennsylvania!
April 27, 2007 won’t appear as a holiday on anyone’s calendar. Few workers will get the day off. But it will be the first day Pennsylvania’s workers stop working to…
Commentary
Read More: Happy Tax Freedom Day, Pennsylvania!Taxes & Economy
Taxpayer Protections
Commonwealth Foundation applauds efforts to control spending and taxes HARRISBURG, PA — The Commonwealth Foundation applauded today’s introduction of a package of proposals designed to reduce the tax burden on…
Press Release
Read More: Taxpayer ProtectionsTaxes & Economy
Prospering In Pennsylvania
Are Pennsylvania’s workers worse off than they were three decades ago? A report prepared by the labor union-backed Keystone Research Center claims they are. Their data indicate that average real…
Commentary
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Free-Market Approaches to Fiscal Policy
Good morning. My name is Nathan Benefield; I am the Director of Policy Research for the Commonwealth Foundation, a research and policy institute in Harrisburg. I want to thank the…
Testimony
Read More: Free-Market Approaches to Fiscal PolicyTaxes & 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
Read More: Protecting the TaxpayersHealth Care
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
Read More: Governor Rendell’s Healthcare MisdiagnosisHealth Care
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 Cause