Taxes & Economy
Mailbag: Is Pennsylvania Taxed Too Little?
In response to a blog post on Pennsylvania’s bleak budget future, a reader took issue with the claim that Pennsylvania has the 10th highest state and local tax…
Media
Read More: Mailbag: Is Pennsylvania Taxed Too Little?Public Union Democracy
Union Dues Pay for PSEA Politics
“If you DON’T care about funds for your school…then by all means throw this away,” reads a June 2011 insert in PSEA Voice, the magazine of the 185,000-strong Pennsylvania…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Pay for PSEA PoliticsWelfare
Protect the Poor, Not Lotto Winners
Jamie Frankford won $330,000 in the Pennsylvania lottery in 2012, yet continued to collect child care subsidies and Medicaid benefits. Her story, reported by Chris Papst at CBS21, caught…
Media
Read More: Protect the Poor, Not Lotto WinnersEducation
Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My Resignation
This perspective on union spending by Pennsylvania public school teacher John Cress originally appeared at Free to Teach, a project of the Commonwealth Foundation. I have been a middle school…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My ResignationHealth Care
Pennsylvania’s Bleak Budget Future
Pennsylvania’s fiscal outlook looks bleak according to a detailed report examining state revenue and spending released by the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) last week. The agency projects a general…
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Bleak Budget FutureGovernment Accountability
Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare Ordeal
Lynn Larrick doesn't fit the usual profile of someone angry with President Obama. She's a staunch Democrat, a retired Philadelphia teacher, and a union member. But when she—like more than…
Commentary
Read More: Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare OrdealPublic Union Democracy
How Taxpayers Subsidize Union Politics
Last year, Pennsylvania’s main government unions spent nearly $5 million of their members’ union dues on political activities that workers don’t get to approve. In 2011-12, these unions also…
Media
Read More: How Taxpayers Subsidize Union PoliticsHealth Care
Obamacare: Exchange Sign-ups Dwarfed by Cancellations
Yesterday, the federal government revealed that shockingly low numbers of Americans are purchasing health insurance on the dysfunctional Obamacare exchange. In Pennsylvania, it’s clear the law is doing more…
Media
Read More: Obamacare: Exchange Sign-ups Dwarfed by CancellationsHealth Care
A Sign of Things to Come?
Cancelled health care plans, an unusable exchange website—do we still trust the federal government to deliver on its health care promises? In what could be a sign of what’s to…
Media
Read More: A Sign of Things to Come?