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Education
Key Takeaways from Governor’s 2024 Budget Proposal
Key Points Gov. Josh Shapiro’s startling spending increases and myriad of new initiatives would explode the budget deficit and invite massive tax hikes on working families in the coming years.
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Energy
Pa. Travelers’ Guide: Summer Gasoline Prices
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Health Care
The Affordable Care Act: Pennsylvania’s Costs
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—often dubbed "Obamacare"—will cost Americans $1.2 trillion from 2012 to 2022 according to the Congressional Budget Office. These projections do not account for the…
Fact Sheet
Read More: The Affordable Care Act: Pennsylvania’s CostsRegulation
Principles for Public Pension Reform
Projected taxpayer contributions for PSERS and SERS will increase from $1.7 billion in 2011-12 to more than $6.2 billion in 2016-17—a 263% increase. Contributions will continue to rise at a…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Principles for Public Pension ReformHealth Care
Fact Check: Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity and Medicaid
Far from hurting the poor, Ryan's Medicaid plan will preserve their access to health care by making the government health care program affordable and sustainable. The plan has three main…
Memo
Read More: Fact Check: Paul Ryan’s Path to Prosperity and MedicaidState Budget
Pennsylvania Welfare Changes will Save an Estimated $173 Million
Act 80 of 2012 amends the Pennsylvania Welfare Code to include several reforms to Department of Public Welfare spending in the 2012-13 state budget. Act 80 will save state taxpayers…
Memo
Read More: Pennsylvania Welfare Changes will Save an Estimated $173 MillionRegulation
Liquor Privatization: Just the Facts
In a recent Delaware County Times webcast on Pennsylvania liquor store privatization, on which I was a panelist, there was a great deal of information thrown into the mix which may have…
Memo
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School Choice Expansion in Pennsylvania
The fiscal year 2012-13 state budget increases the Educational Improvement Tax Credit by $25 million to $100 million and creates a new $50 million tax credit for Opportunity Scholarships—effectively doubling…
Memo
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Opportunity Scholarships for Pennsylvania
A new proposal (HB 2468) would expand the existing EITC program while adding an additional category of scholarship organizations. Under HB 2468, the EITC limit would increase from $75 million…
Fact Sheet
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Getting Rich Off the Poor: Examining Welfare Abuse
Over the past few years, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare conducted a series of audits and uncovered many questionable practices among state contractors. Some providers of welfare…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Getting Rich Off the Poor: Examining Welfare AbuseState Budget
Taxpayer Protection Act for Smarties
The Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA) would reasonably limit future growth in state government spending to inflation plus population growth, require the government to prioritize spending, create a Rainy Day Fund…
Poll
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School Choice Toolkit
Children at Pennsylvania’s worst-performing schools are frequently subjected to acts of violence. In the worst 140+ schools alone, with some 80,000 children, students faced nearly 10,000 acts of violence in…
Fact Sheet
Read More: School Choice ToolkitCriminal Justice Reform
Real Corrections Reform, Right Now
Albert Einstein is said to have remarked that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We the undersigned submit that unfortunately,…
Poll
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State Spending Limits for Pennsylvania
Prior to 2011-12, Pennsylvania's total operating budget had increased for at least 40 consecutive years. The Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA) would force lawmakers to limit government spending during boom years,…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania Higher Education Spending
Pennsylvania taxpayers subsidize higher education through appropriations to 14 state-owned universities (Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, or PASSHE), four state-related universities (Penn State, Pittsburgh, Temple, and Lincoln), community colleges,…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania Government Debt
Today, Pennsylvanians owe $121 billion in state and local government debt. This equates to more than $9,400 for every person, and almost $38,000 for the average family of four in…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania State and School Pension Costs
Pennsylvania taxpayers fund two statewide pension plans for government employees—the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS) for state employees and the Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) for school employees. PSERS…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Pennsylvania State and School Pension CostsGovernment Accountability
The Squeeze: Government Unions’ Grip on Pennsylvanians
Pennsylvania's government unions wield tremendous political influence and advance policies that harm the commonwealth's taxpayers, children, and even their own members. Pennsylvania is a forced union state, meaning even workers…
Report
Read More: The Squeeze: Government Unions’ Grip on PennsylvaniansEducation
Pennsylvania K-12 Education Spending
Pennsylvania's K-12 education revenue increased from $13 billion in 1995-96 to $26 billion in 2009-10. Adjusted for inflation, that represents a 44% increase in revenue per student. …
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania Welfare Spending
The FY 2011-12 total operating budget of $63.4 billion, which included $27.1 billion in General Fund spending, represented the first year-to-year reduction in state spending in at least 40 years.
Fact Sheet
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Ending the Cycle: Reforming Welfare in Pennsylvania
Government welfare, with its goal to provide a helping hand to those in need, has instead become a vast series of programs that fall far short of the good intentions…
Report
Read More: Ending the Cycle: Reforming Welfare in PennsylvaniaPublic Union Democracy
Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage Law
Pennsylvania's Prevailing Wage Law was enacted in 1961 to protect construction workers from out-of-state competition, mandating that contractors pay the wages that "prevail" in each region on all government construction…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Prevailing Wage LawCriminal Justice Reform
Pennsylvania Corrections Spending
The FY 2011-12 total operating budget of $63.4 billion, which included $27.1 billion in General Fund spending, represented the first year-to-year reduction in state spending in at least 40 years.
Fact Sheet
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