State Budget

Budget Facts 2009: Natural Gas Severance Tax

  • July 3, 2009

Pennsylvania faces a $3 billion tax revenue shortfall in the state’s General Fund Budget. Competing proposals from Gov. Ed Rendell and the Republican-led Senate differ on raising taxes and reducing/reprioritizing…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Does Universal Preschool Improve Learning?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 15, 2009

The Heritage Foundation has a new backgrounder asking, “Does Universal Preschool Improve Learning?”   The short answer is NO.  For the long answer, they examine universal preschool programs…

Media

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State Budget

Taxing An Infant Industry to Death

  • May 13, 2009

Home to the first oil well in the United States, Pennsylvania has returned to the drilling scene in recent years, looking to tap into an estimated 50 trillion cubic feet…

Commentary

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Taxes & Economy

Wrong Time for a Severance Tax

  • April 30, 2009

The Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center (PBPC) released a report this week advocating for a severance tax on natural resource extraction, such as the proposed tax by Governor Rendell…

Media

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Education

Protect Our Kids from Preschool

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 23, 2008

Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell have a an editorial in the Wall Street Journal about the merits of universal preschool: In the last half-century, U.S. preschool attendance…

Media

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Education

Preschool Study: No Evidence of Lasting Benefits

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 9, 2008

Adam Schaeffer writes on Cato-at-liberty that a recent study of universal preschool only shows what critics of government-run day care have been saying: that they offer only short-term…

Media

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The Myth of Pre-K

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 26, 2007

Adam Schaeffer of the Cato Institute tackles the mythical benefits of universal pre-K: In truth, pre-K costs billions of dollars but returns little benefit. Supporters…

Media

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Education

Taxpayer-Funded, Universal Preschool in Pennsylvania: Benefits Questioned

  • Nathan Benefield
  • June 13, 2007

The push toward taxpayer-funded preschool for every child in Pennsylvania continues with Governor Rendell’s budget proposal for the 2007-08 fiscal year. The Governor wants $75 million for “Pre-K Counts,” which…

Fact Sheet

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Taxes & Economy

Happy Tax Freedom Day, Pennsylvania!

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 27, 2007

April 27, 2007 won’t appear as a holiday on anyone’s calendar. Few workers will get the day off. But it will be the first day Pennsylvania’s workers stop working to…

Commentary

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