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Taxes & Economy

Taxpayer Protections

• April 17, 2007

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

More tax money to ethanol

• Nathan Benefield
• April 16, 2007

Central Penn Business Journal on the announcement of $31 million in taxpayer-financed state grants for “clean energy projects,” primarily going to ethanol and biodiesel companies. Appearing yesterday on the…

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How much for PHEAA?

• Nathan Benefield
• April 16, 2007

If Sallie Mae is worth $25 Billion, PHEAA (which has about 1/10th the assets as Sallie Mae and about 1/20th the gross revenue) could be worth between $1.7 billion…

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Nepotism at Turnpike Commission

• Nathan Benefield
• April 15, 2007

Tom Barnes in the Post-Gazette with a great story on nepotism and patronage at the Turnpike Commission. Rather than deny political favoritism in hiring (as they did last…

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Tax subsidies needed to pay min. wage?

• Nathan Benefield
• April 14, 2007

I missed this story in the Philadelphia Inquirer last week. State Rep. (and Philadelphia mayoral candidate) Dwight Evans is working to get $820 million in state subsidy for the…

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More “whoops” with RomneyCare

• Nathan Benefield
• April 13, 2007

Massachusetts will now exempt about 60,000 people from the “mandate” to buy health insurance, The Boston Globe reports. Those people earn too much to qualify for state subsidy, but…

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HSA Guide for Legislators

• Nathan Benefield
• April 13, 2007

A Guide for State Legislators: Creating an HSA State from the Center for Health Transformation. Also, Greg Scandlen of Consumers for Health Care Choices offers these suggested additions:…

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Privately Managed Schools in Philly Gain

• Nathan Benefield
• April 13, 2007

A new report by Paul Peterson at Harvard indicates that privately managed schools in Philadelphia had greater gains in PSSA scores than overall public schools and than “restructured” schools…

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The Act 1 farce

• Nathan Benefield
• April 13, 2007

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial on the Act 1, the so-called property tax relief law. Also the Patriot News has coverage of districts joining with the Pennsylvania Taxpayers Cyber…

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Survey of Attitudes on Taxes

• Nathan Benefield
• April 12, 2007

The Tax Foundation’s latest survey of attitudes towards taxes came out today. The results will shock you. The number of people saying taxes are “too low” doubled since last…

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Pennsylvania needs a spending limit

• Nathan Benefield
• April 12, 2007

Press Enterprise Editorial on the Taxpayer Protection Act.

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Grand jury to probe Pa. bonuses

• Nathan Benefield
• April 12, 2007

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that there will be a grand jury investigating whether bonuses to legislative staffers were illegally tied to campaign work.

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Gov. Blames Lawmakers For Property Tax Troubles

• Nathan Benefield
• April 12, 2007

Governor Rendell is blaming lawmakers for the lack of any property tax relief, in a WGAL Story (though his is losing the WGAL blame poll badly) . Rendell isn’t…

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Ending Teacher Strikes

• Nathan Benefield
• April 12, 2007

Bucks County Courier Times on the difference between Sen. Mellow’s binding arbitration bill and Simon Campbell’s proposals (both designed to end teacher strikes). Rep. Steil has converted to Campbell’s…

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Show Me the Spending

• Nathan Benefield
• April 11, 2007

ShowMeTheSpending.org, a new website from Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, Citizens Against Government Waste, and National Taxpayers Union, is pushing for a…

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Björn Borg, Come Home

• Nathan Benefield
• April 11, 2007

Wall Street Journal article on how Sweden is abolishing their “wealth tax”, after driving the rich from the country (including Borg and ABBA).

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Turnpike boss opposes proposed merger with PennDOT

• Nathan Benefield
• April 10, 2007

Post Gazette story on PA Turnpike chief Joseph Brimmeier opposing Sen. Jane Orie’s plan to put the Turnpike under PennDOT control. This would shock no one. And while the…

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Commission on State Government Pay Proposed

• Nathan Benefield
• April 10, 2007

Rep. Ron Marsico is proposing a commission to examine compensation of state officials. Now while proposing a commission doesn’t seem controversial, consider that in nearly two years since the…

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Would you be a winner?

• Nathan Benefield
• April 10, 2007

Patriot News article on the May tax shifting referendum under Act 1. The shift to an income tax creates winners as loser, though the article identifies LLC firms as…

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Is RendellCare good medicine?

• Nathan Benefield
• April 9, 2007

Three articles in the NE PA Business Journal on Governor Rendell’s health care proposals, all featuring the Commonwealth Foundation’s Rick Dreyfuss. Is Gov. Rendell’s ‘Prescription for Pennsylvania’ Good Medicine?:…

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Are we all “supply-siders” now?

• Nathan Benefield
• April 9, 2007

I saw this Bruce Barltett editorial in the NY Times over the weekend. Bartlett makes the intriguing argument that politicians no longer need to claim to believe in “supply-side”…

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