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Education
Public Schools Increased Spending to $23,000 Per Student, Ballooned Reserves While Enrollment Declined
Harrisburg, Pa., May 15, 2025 — Pennsylvania school districts increased overall revenue collected in 2023–24 to $23,000 per student, while expanding general fund reserves to $7.4 billion, according to new…
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Energy
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on RGGI
Read More: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments on RGGI
Education
Senate Education Committee Approves Bipartisan PASS Scholarships, Offering Lifeline to Students in Need
Read More: Senate Education Committee Approves Bipartisan PASS Scholarships, Offering Lifeline to Students in Need
Prosperity
New Report: Gig-Workers Prefer Flexibility of Portable Benefits
Read More: New Report: Gig-Workers Prefer Flexibility of Portable Benefits
Minimum Wage vs. EITC
CBO analysis compares the effect of a minimum wage increase vs. an Earned Income Tax Credit Increase for the poor. They find that while most of the benefits of…
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Foie gras ban in Chicago is flouted
Chicago restuarants serve food in direct violation of a ban on foie gras. While I’ve been much for duck liver, this reassures me that no paternalistic big government will…
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Guide to Earmark Reform
Citizens Against Government Waste offers a guide to earmark reform – both the House plan and President Bush’s proposal fail to meet many of the key elements.
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The revenge of the failures
Bruce N. Shortt on how public agencies are trying to “help” homeschoolers by regulating them.
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Leasing the Turnpike
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial on a turnpike lease: But there’s resistance in the Keystone State where many people think only the government should operate public infrastructure. Is that because it…
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CA to offer tax breaks for health insurance
Governor Schwarzenegger plans to make health coverage more affordable for Californians by making individually purchased plans tax free (the same way employer provide plans are taken from pre-tax income).
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Tax as you go.
Wall Street Journal piece on Nancy Pelosi’s “PayGo” plan, which would prevent tax cuts but wouldn’t restrain spending.
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The Right Minimum Wage: $0
George Will in the Washington Post on why the nostalgia for New Deal era Big Government proposals – such as the minimum wage – are as bad an idea…
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Some big bills are coming due
Clarke Thomas in the Post-Gazette on the big bills (and potential tax increases to fund them) looming for state and local governments in transporation, employee pensions and health care,…
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Bush: Time for a New Course
With Democrats in control in Congress, President Bush has decided to practice fiscal conservatism. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal, he promises to keep spending in check…
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Minimum Wage Impact
Coverage of the new Pennsylvania minimum wage and its impact on local businesses in the Carlisle Sentinel and the News Item. While local businesses feel the pinch and…
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Legislative Reform on Tap?
Regardless of who is elected Speaker of the House (see here), both the Pennsylvania House and Senate have promised to take up reforms to make the legislative process more…
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Will leasing PA Turnpike be a 21st-century taxpayer bargain?
Will leasing PA Turnpike be a 21st-century taxpayer bargain?By MARC LEVYAssociated Press Writer HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP, Dec. 30) – Let the bidding begin. With lots of private money looking…
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Minimum wage: The rising tide that lifts all wages?
Carlisle Sentinel on PA’s higher minimum wage. Alhtough, our study is quoted, the context is not fully given. Our study does indeed claim that jobs will be lost; however,…
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… but lease would bring efficiencies to turnpike
Nate Benefield in today’s Morning Call.
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Editorial: Taxpayers funding legislators’ retirement
DelcoTimes weighs in on the looming pension crisis.
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Pension gap fix may not be easy
Part 4 of Mark Scolforo’s series.
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Federal income tax data
In response to the commenter on my last post here are some numbers on federal income tax receipts: for 2000 and 2004 from the Tax Foundation and 2006…
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The Top 1% Pay 35%
Wall Street Journal article on how much “the rich” pay in taxes.
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Health tab for public Pa. retirees nears $34 billion
AP Story on the liability for health coverage for retired state workers. Preliminary estimates are that state taxpayers will have to contribute $1.125 billion annually to pay off the…
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To lease or not to lease
From Capitolwire.com (subscription): While Gov. Ed Rendell waits for a Dec. 22 deadline for private firms to submit “expressions of interest” to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike, public policy…
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