Tax Burden Stifles Economic Growth

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 21, 2006

New NCPA Study examines the effect of an excessive tax burden on economic growth. The estimate the optimal level of federal, state, and local taxes should be about 23%…

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Rendell will explore leasing Pa. Turnpike

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 21, 2006

Following the Commonwealth Foundation’s forum on Public-Private Partnerships in Transporation Governor Rendell states that he is on board with exploring a lease of the PA Turnpike, according to the…

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Money Can’t Buy ‘em Learning

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 21, 2006

Andrew Coulson on over-spending and under-performing public schools. Coulson writes: So private schools get by with thousands of dollars less per pupil annually than the supposedly underfunded government system,…

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Freedom Man

  • November 18, 2006

Dr. Thomas Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, eulogizes Milton Friedman in today’s Wall Street Journal.

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Leasing out turnpike could be $30B windfall

  • November 18, 2006

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on the opportunity policymakers can consider in lieu of raising taxes and fees to pay for transportation infrastructure needs.

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Sense of Irony?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 17, 2006

The PA House Democratic Leadership Letter features two items that either show a sense of irony, or a complete blindless to the shadiness of Harrisburg politics. The first items…

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McCain: Defeat Was Payback for Losing ‘Our Principles’

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 17, 2006

From the New York Times. McCain hits all the ways conservatives looked to big government – spending increases, new entitlement programs, trying to bribe voters with pork barrel projects,…

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Learning from the election

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 17, 2006

The lesson from the Congressional election is “Money can’t buy me love” says Ed Feulner. Feulner will give the Keynote address at the Commonwealth Foundation’s Gala on December…

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Poverty and Spending

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 17, 2006

Report released Tuesday from the Goldwater Institute shows that states with the lowest taxes and spending reduced their poverty rates, while states with the highest taxes and spending saw…

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Pension and retirement benefits for lawmakers

  • November 17, 2006

The Beaver County Times on the retirement benefits for Democrats Veon, LaGrotta, and Leskovitz. As nearly one-quarter of the Legislature makes its final adieu next week,they face a…

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Milton Friedman Passes Away at 94

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 16, 2006

Milton Friedman Passes Away at 94. Mr. Friedman’s ideas and work have had a profound influence on the Commonwealth Foundation and on me. Here are some additional links and…

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Here we go again

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 16, 2006

After dozens of incumbent Congressional Republicans lost and a Wall-Street Journal poll showing that voters’ number one domestic issue was banning pork projects (following the explosion in the number…

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Think Twice on Tax Credits (Even Popular Ones)

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 16, 2006

Tax Foundation analysis shows that tax credits mean that only 40% of income is taxed – in other words, if we eliminate these tax credits we could cut federal…

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New CPI & Lawmakers COLA

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 16, 2006

The October Consumer Price Index was released today – while this will be studied by investors and economic analysts for multiple reasons, it is also of note for this…

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Commonwealth Foundation on PCN

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 15, 2006

If you missed today’s luncheon on Transportation funding, you can catch in on PCN – Pennsylvania Cable Network tomorrow at 2:15 pm.

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What should the Dems do?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • November 15, 2006

Greg Mankiw analyzes new VA Senator Jim Webb’s editorial in the Wall Street Journal on income inequality: Erecting barriers to trade, raising the minimum wage, encouraging the cartelization…

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