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Citizens to Lawmakers: Please, No More Taxes!

• June 30, 2009

M e m o r a n d u m______________________________________________________________ Date:        June 30, 2009To:           Gov. Rendell and Members of the Pennsylvania General AssemblyFrom:       The UndersignedRE:          Please,…

Press Release

Taxes & Economy

The Real Effect of Rendell’s Taxes on Small Business

• Nathan Benefield
• June 30, 2009

While Gov. Rendell continues his propaganda campaign for higher taxes (see WGAL for a related news story on the thousands Rendell has spent in taxpayer funds lobbying for more…

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Education

More Dollars is Not Producing More Scholars

• Nathan Benefield
• June 30, 2009

A new report from the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia on Pennsylvania school performance (specifically the 11th grade PSSAs) across school districts finds that: Demographic factors (residents with…

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Taxes & Economy

Cap and Trade is a Rip-off

• June 29, 2009

The science is beyond dispute and the facts are clearâ€?, said President Obama, speaking definitively on the issue of climate change, as he usually does with other issues he wants…

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Regulation

Has Gambling Reduced Property Taxes?

• Nathan Benefield
• June 29, 2009

In a press conference last week, Gov. Rendell patted himself on the back for all the property tax relief he has provided via gambling.  But John Delano of KDKA-TV in…

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Health Care

Residents: RomneyCare a Failure

• Nathan Benefield
• June 29, 2009

Rasmussen polling finds that only 26% of Massachusetts residents think the health care reform in that state was a “success”, compared with 37% calling in a failure. The…

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State Budget

Will Pennsylvania Budget Lead to Dogs and Cats Living Together?

• Nathan Benefield
• June 27, 2009

After weeks of new releases, press conferences, and taxpayer-funded bus tours about the horrors that will ensue if the Pennsylvania state budget is $27.3 billion instead of…

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State Budget

Rendell’s “Pay the Inmates, not the Guards” Strategy

• Matthew Brouillette
• June 26, 2009

The Morning Call’s John Micek has a follow-up article to yesterday’s revelation that inmates would be getting paid while the guards would not during the current budget impasse.

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Taxes & Economy

Cap and Trade Will Squeeze State Budgets, Raise Energy Prices, and Cost Jobs

• Nathan Benefield
• June 26, 2009

The Heritage Foundation has a number of new facts on the impact of Cap and Trade, which the US House is supposed to vote on today. Under Cap and…

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Time for Open Government is Now

• June 25, 2009

“Pennsylvanians need greater transparency in how state government is spending their hard-earned money.  An online database of state spending would allow every citizen to become a government watchdog. Particularly in…

Press Release

Taxes & Economy

More Mandates=More Expensive Electricity

• Elizabeth Stelle
• June 25, 2009

On Wednesday the Housed passed a bill to reestablish the State Energy Office, terminated in 1995. HB 287 would resurrect the office to preform vague duties like: Promote…

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State Budget

Rebutting Rendell’s Rhetoric

• Nathan Benefield
• June 25, 2009

Rendell’s propaganda campaign continues today, with another press conference (his sixty-first, in support of legislation that does not yet exist) with tax eaters asking for more tax dollars. Rendell latest…

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Taxes & Economy

Taxpayers Guide to the Stimulus

• Nathan Benefield
• June 25, 2009

Reason Foundation put a new “Taxpayers Guide to the Stimulus” last week that is informative, and an easy-to-digest guide to where all the stimulus money is going.  They also…

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Taxes & Economy

Rendell calls CF’s job loss numbers “BS”

• Matthew Brouillette
• June 25, 2009

Last night, Gov. Rendell defended his tax increase proposals on WITF’s state-wide broadcast. Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati also challenged the Governor’s efforts to sell “snake oil”. But when Nell…

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Health Care

Helping the Uninsured

• Nathan Benefield
• June 25, 2009

I had a brief debate via Twitter (I guess it is impossible to have anything but a brief debate on Twitter) with a staffer for the Pennsylvania House…

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Health Care

Free Market Alternatives to the ObamaCare Informercial

• Nathan Benefield
• June 24, 2009

If you are looking for some alternative programming to the Obamacare propaganda scheduled to air tonight, or just want a different point of view (which ABC has refused to…

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Taxes & Economy

Pennsylvanians are Voting with Their Feet

• June 24, 2009

I wonder how many believe that forgoing new taxes and cutting back spending would lead the state of Pennsylvania to the “post apocalyptic landscape of Cormac McCarthy’s novel soon-to-be-movie,…

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Taxes & Economy

A Cap and Trade Call to Action

• June 24, 2009

Although originally planned for debate after the 4th of July, Congressional Leaders met late Monday night to place H.R. 2454, also known as the “cap and tradeâ€? initiative, on the…

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Health Care

Democrats’ Health Care Plan: Tax the Middle Class, Loophole for Unions

• Nathan Benefield
• June 24, 2009

We mentioned last week that a tax on employer-provided health care benefits would likely be part of ObamaCare. This despite the fact that Obama’s campaign criticized McCain for proposing…

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Taxes & Economy

Speaker McCall Throws Support behind Income Tax Hike

• June 23, 2009

Pressured by a looming June 30th budget deadline and Gov. Ed Rendell’s economic team, House Speaker Keith McCall of Carbon County announced yesterday his support for a 16% increase…

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State Budget

Why Don’t Men Like to Wear Condoms?

• Nathan Benefield
• June 23, 2009

No, we haven’t been spammed. But if the question of ‘Why men don’t like to wear condoms?’ doesn’t seem an apt topic for PolicyBlog, does it seem an appropriate subject…

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