Nathan Benefield
Senior Vice President
An Ohio native, Nate holds an undergraduate degree in political science and economics and a master’s degree in public service management from DePaul University in Chicago. He also completed his doctoral studies (ABD) in political science at Loyola University, also in Chicago.
Nate joined the Commonwealth Foundation in 2005. Now as senior vice president, he provides strategic leadership as well as operational oversight spanning policy analysis, government relations, marketing, and communications.
Nate has researched and written extensively on public policy issues including the state budget, public sector labor reform, government spending and taxes, liquor privatization, education, and economic development. Under Nate’s policy leadership, the Commonwealth Foundation’s work on public sector pension law helped drive the bipartisan pension reform of 2017, heralded by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post as an example for other states to follow.
Nate has testified numerous times before state legislative committees and is often called upon by legislators and members of the media to provide expertise. He is a frequent commentator on both television and radio, and his writings have appeared across the state and nationally in outlets including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Patriot-News, and Weekly Standard.
Nate’s favorite rock song and personal motto are both “Don’t Stop Believin.”
State Budget
Obituary for the Pennsylvania Income Tax Hike
Rendell’s personal income tax hike plan is dead, declared PA House Republicans yesterday. Brad Bumsted has the obituary in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. Despite not having…
Media
Read More: Obituary for the Pennsylvania Income Tax HikeState Budget
PA Auditor General Offers Ways to Balance Budget – Without Tax Hike
Add one more Democrat to the list of those who don’t think we should raise the state income tax – Auditor General Jack Wagner has release a series of…
Media
Read More: PA Auditor General Offers Ways to Balance Budget – Without Tax HikeState Budget
Balancing the Budget: Another Rendell Lie?
The Rendell administration has been saying for weeks that the budget passed by the Senate in May (SB 850) is “$1.5 billion out of balance”. As John Micek…
Media
Read More: Balancing the Budget: Another Rendell Lie?Health Care
Video: Health Reform and Wait Times (In Lego!)
Here is a good video comparing health care wait times in Atlanta and Boston – home to the failed Massachusetts health care reform, which serves as a model…
Media
Read More: Video: Health Reform and Wait Times (In Lego!)State Budget
Rendell’s Actual Budget Proposal
Number crunchers around Harrisburg may remember last week, I posted a spreadsheet of the Pennsylvania state budget proposals, but had to guess at Governor Rendell’s allocation of federal stimulus…
Media
Read More: Rendell’s Actual Budget Proposal
Blogging about the Commonwealth Foundation
Here are some of the blogs who have given us some linkage on a a variety of budget-related issues over the past week. BucksRight, PA Family Institute Blog,…
Media
Read More: Blogging about the Commonwealth FoundationState Budget
PA House Democrats Against Tax Hikes
Contrary to the Rendell administration’s claims that many Republicans will support a personal income tax increase, the opposite it likely true. John Micek writes that there are maybe…
Media
Read More: PA House Democrats Against Tax HikesTaxes & Economy
Tax Code Helped Cause Financial Crisis
Budget & Tax News reports on a new study on the effect of tax policy on the financial crisis. [Author Sam] Eddins also addresses the issue of credit default…
Media
Read More: Tax Code Helped Cause Financial CrisisState Budget
Pennsylvania Budget and Tax Updates
Here are some brief highlights on the Pennsylvania budget: Brian O’Neill editorializes angrily on “America’s Largest Full-Time State Legislature” failing to do their job, again, and includes phone numbers.
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania Budget and Tax UpdatesState Budget
Do Rendell’s Budget Numbers Add Up?
Mario Cattabiani and Angela Couloumbis take a look at some of Gov. Rendell’s latest budget rhetoric, namely his claim that 50% of Pennsylvanians don’t pay the Personal Income Tax,…
Media
Read More: Do Rendell’s Budget Numbers Add Up?Taxes & Economy
What Obama’s Critics Really Say
I like this post by Scott Ott, in which he challenges Obama’s comments that critics “say we are trying to do too much, that we are moving too quickly”. …
Media
Read More: What Obama’s Critics Really SayState Budget
Pennsylvania Budget Proposals – Revised Spreadsheet Now Online
The Rendell administration has released a new version of his Pennsylvania state budget proposal, unfortunately this is only available in a PDF document, and does not include the allocation…
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania Budget Proposals – Revised Spreadsheet Now Online
Pennsylvania House Passes Silly Bills
We are now three days in to the fiscal year without a state budget, yet the Pennsylvania House Democrats still refuse to bring any spending or revenue legislation up for…
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania House Passes Silly Bills
Who is Blogging about the Commonwealth Foundation
A new, hopefully regular, feature on Policy Blog will be a roundup of Commonwealth Foundation citations in the Pennsylvania blogosphere. Here are some blog posts from the past week:…
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Read More: Who is Blogging about the Commonwealth FoundationGovernment Accountability
PA General Assembly Costs $50,000 Per Day for One Hour Sessions
ABC 27 News has a story on the high cost of the General Assembly – $50,000 per day – to have sessions during the budget impasse. This is very…
Media
Read More: PA General Assembly Costs $50,000 Per Day for One Hour SessionsTaxes & Economy
Upcoming Pennsylvania Tea Parties
The are a number of upcoming “Tea Parties” in Pennsylvania coming up in the near future, many on or around July 4. Here are some listings to find the event…
Media
Read More: Upcoming Pennsylvania Tea PartiesState Budget
Is Rendell Lying About State Police Layoffs?
Gov. Rendell has been quoted on numerous occasions claiming the budget passed by the Pennsylvania Senate last month would result in the layoff of 800 state police. We pointed out…
Media
Read More: Is Rendell Lying About State Police Layoffs?Health Care
Response to ObamaCare Infomercial
The Cato Institute has a video, point-by-point response to Obama’s informercial on his health care reform plan.
Media
Read More: Response to ObamaCare InfomercialTaxes & Economy
The Real Effect of Rendell’s Taxes on Small Business
While Gov. Rendell continues his propaganda campaign for higher taxes (see WGAL for a related news story on the thousands Rendell has spent in taxpayer funds lobbying for more…
Media
Read More: The Real Effect of Rendell’s Taxes on Small BusinessEducation
More Dollars is Not Producing More Scholars
A new report from the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia on Pennsylvania school performance (specifically the 11th grade PSSAs) across school districts finds that: Demographic factors (residents with…
Media
Read More: More Dollars is Not Producing More ScholarsRegulation
Has Gambling Reduced Property Taxes?
In a press conference last week, Gov. Rendell patted himself on the back for all the property tax relief he has provided via gambling. But John Delano of KDKA-TV in…
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Read More: Has Gambling Reduced Property Taxes?