Research

State Budget

Deficit Watch: March 2025 

• Andrew Holman
• March 4, 2025

Background Pennsylvania faces serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2024–25 General Fund budget created a $3.6 billion structural deficit. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2025–26 budget…

Deficit Watch

Education

Record Tax Credit Scholarship Waiting List Shows Growing Demand for Education Options

• February 26, 2025

Summary Pennsylvania scholarship organizations awarded a record 85,570 K–12 scholarships through the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) in the 2022-23 school year.  The average…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Optimizing State Spending

• February 25, 2025

Summary Pennsylvania faces a $3.6 billion structural budget deficit in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024–25. The Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) calculates Gov. Josh Shapiro’s FY 2025–26 budget…

Fact Sheet

Education

Pennsylvania Public Schools: Nation’s Report Card 2024 

• February 25, 2025

Summary Despite $4.1 billion in education funding increases over the last four years, Pennsylvania Public Schools did not rank in the top 10 for any category…

Fact Sheet

Prosperity

Deficit Watch: February 2025

• February 5, 2025

Background Pennsylvania faces serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2024–25 General Fund budget created a $3.6 billion structural deficit, with $47.6 billion in spending and only $43.9 billion in net…

Deficit Watch

Education

Governor Shapiro’s 2025 Budget Proposal: An Extreme Spending Binge

• Nathan Benefield
• February 4, 2025

Overview Gov. Josh Shapiro’s radical overspending exacerbates what is already a massive budget deficit. His plan imposes new taxes this year and will force extreme tax hikes on working families…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Pennsylvania Budget Chart Book

• January 21, 2025

Chart Book

Prosperity

How to Balance the PA State Budget

• January 21, 2025

Key Points Pennsylvania faces a $3.6 billion structural deficit in fiscal year (FY) 2024–25. Unless addressed, the deficit will require massive tax increases on working families by next year. Extreme…

Backgrounder

Energy

RGGI Is a Destructive Policy for Pennsylvania

• January 14, 2025

Overview The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a multi-state cap-and-trade program that imposes a carbon tax on power generators, resulting in a new, economy-wide energy…

Fact Sheet

Prosperity

The Rainy Day Fund

• January 14, 2025

Summary The Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund, is Pennsylvania’s largest budgetary reserve fund. Pennsylvania law dictates that lawmakers may only draw from the…

Fact Sheet

Prosperity

Deficit Watch: January 2025

• Andrew Holman
• January 10, 2025

Background Pennsylvania faces serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2024–25 General Fund budget created a $3.6 billion structural deficit, with $47.6 billion in spending and only $43.9 billion in net…

Deficit Watch

Energy

State of RGGI: Past, Present, and Future

• André Béliveau
• December 5, 2024

Key Points The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a multi-state cap-and-trade program that imposes a carbon tax on power generators, resulting in a new, economy-wide energy tax. Pennsylvania entered…

Backgrounder

Fairness

Election Reform in Pennsylvania

• November 25, 2024

Summary Ahead of the 2020 election, Pennsylvania allowed no-excuse mail-in voting for the first time. Officials overwhelmed with millions of ballot requests, last-minute state guidance, and litigation resulted in delayed…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

EITC and Economically Disadvantaged Schools

• November 11, 2024

Summary The Economically Disadvantaged School component of the EITC provides supplementary scholarships for Pennsylvania students receiving scholarships and attending private schools with the greatest financial need. These supplementary scholarships for…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Pennsylvania’s Looming Budget Challenges

• November 6, 2024

Summary Pennsylvania’s fiscal year (FY) 2024–25 state budget has created a $3.6 billion structural budget deficit. Without a major shift in direction, this deficit will persist and grow in future…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

The Taxpayer Protection Act

• October 29, 2024

Summary Pennsylvania faces a $3.6 billion structural deficit that will force lawmakers to cut spending or increase taxes. State spending growth far outpaces inflation, population growth, and economic growth. This…

Fact Sheet

Education

Pa. Tax Credit Scholarships 101

• October 24, 2024

Overview: Tax Credit Scholarship Programs Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that provide students access to high-quality schools of…

Fact Sheet

Education

EITC Private School Tuition

• October 14, 2024

Simple Tuition Solutions Simple Tuition Solutions (STS) processed scholarship applications for students attending 130 different private schools in 2023–24. The median tuition charge, of the 106 schools with tuition rates…

Fact Sheet

Education

EITC: Archdiocese of Philadelphia

• October 14, 2024

Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Archdiocese of Philadelphia (AOP) serves the five-county Philadelphia region—Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. AOP provides EITC and OSTC scholarships to an economically and racially…

Fact Sheet

Education

EITC Student Economic Data

• October 14, 2024

Summary While no state agency collects comprehensive information regarding scholarship students’ family income or demographics, this report compiles data from scholarship providers and financial services providers to provide details about…

Fact Sheet

Regulation

Prevailing Wage in Pennsylvania

• October 7, 2024

Summary Prevailing wage law dictates the minimum wage rates paid to workers on public construction projects if the project’s estimated costs exceed a certain threshold. Pennsylvania’s threshold for prevailing wage…

Fact Sheet