Regulation

Policy Memo: Ideas to Balance the 2017-18 Budget

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • July 5, 2017

With a spending plan in place, lawmakers should focus their efforts on reinventing state government to balance the budget, including ending horse racing subsidies.

Memo

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State Budget

Lawmakers’ Choices: Higher Taxes or Real Reform

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 5, 2017

Half the state budget is done: the spending list. The Pennsylvania House and Senate passed a general appropriations bill on Friday. But the other half—how to pay for it—remains. The…

Media

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Criminal Justice Reform

How to Revamp Pa.’s Criminal Justice System

  • July 3, 2017

Pennsylvania can reduce its prison population by more than 1,000 people while saving approximately $108 million over five years, according to a Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) Working Group Report.

Media

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Public Union Democracy

Balancing Pennsylvania’s Budget: Tax or Reform?

  • Jessica Barnett
  • June 30, 2017

Government unions are rallying in Harrisburg, demanding more money from Pennsylvanians to justify an even larger state budget. It’s worth asking, how did we get here again? And what…

Media

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Education

ESAs Advance to Another State—Will Pa. Be Next?

  • James Paul
  • June 29, 2017

This week, North Carolina became the sixth state to authorize education savings accounts (ESAs)—flexible spending accounts used by parents to customize their child’s education.

Media

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Regulation

Op-Ed: Learn from Last Year’s Budget Mistakes

  • June 29, 2017

Before you dismiss the budget debate as political theater, consider this: The deals hashed out in Harrisburg could blow a hole in your own budget or even strip you of…

Commentary

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State Budget

Focusing on What Matters in the Tax Credit Debate

  • Bob Dick
  • June 27, 2017

Pennsylvania provides tax credits for film production, concerts and video games. House Bill 1519 would combine these credits into one Multimedia Tax Credit Fund. But consolidating tax credits doesn't address…

Media

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