State Budget

PA Budget Facts 2010: Pennsylvania Sales Tax Expansion

  • April 7, 2010

Gov. Rendell has proposed lowering Pennsylvania's Sales & Use Tax from 6% to 4% and expanding the tax to 74 goods and services currently not taxed. This is the fourth…

Fact Sheet

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Health Care

Mass: What PA has to Look Forward to on Health Insurance

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 7, 2010

Massachusetts – with an individual mandate, an insurance exchange, taxpayer subsidies for insurance, and a regulatory board overseeing all health insurance – was seen as the model for health care…

Media

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Energy

Budget Facts 2010: Natural Gas Severance Tax

  • April 7, 2010

Gov. Rendell has proposed a tax of 5% on the value of extracted natural gas, plus $.047 per thousand cubic feet of extracted gas. There is an exemption for marginal…

Fact Sheet

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Time for Serious Transportation Funding Solutions

  • April 6, 2010

Harrisburg, PA – Commonwealth Foundation President and CEO Matthew Brouillette released the following statement in response to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) rejection of Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC)…

Press Release

Read More: Time for Serious Transportation Funding Solutions

Taxes & Economy

Alternative Energy Should Be the People’s Choice

  • April 6, 2010

The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry has recent white paper about House Bill 80; a bill that seeks to increase Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard. The Chamber…

Media

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Education

Gov. Rendell Learned His Lesson

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 6, 2010

Last year, Gov. Rendell went on a bus tour across Pennsylvania, at taxpayer expense, to lobby for more education spending. Rendell was…

Media

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State Budget

Rendell’s Higher Taxes Equals Fewer Jobs

  • April 6, 2010

Pennsylvania's latest budget shortfall is the result of a pattern in which state legislators abandon fiscal prudence in "good years" and face spending cuts or tax hikes in down times.

Commentary

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Government Accountability

Four of Six PA Governor Candidates Favor State Constitutional Convention

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 5, 2010

At a forum for Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates last week, Tom Corbett, Jack Wagner, Joe Hoeffel, and Dan Onorato all express some support for a state constitutional convention, at least…

Media

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Education

Is Choice Harming Public Schools?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 2, 2010

The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a story this week about the number of students (314,000 over nine years) served by Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC provides tax…

Media

Read More: Is Choice Harming Public Schools?