State Budget

Pennsylvania State Budget Outlook

  • January 9, 2023

In November, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its Five Year Economic and Budget Outlook. Here are several trends for lawmakers. Pennsylvania’s Economy Remains Stagnant IFO forecasts Pennsylvania’s…

Fact Sheet

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Criminal Justice Reform

Juvenile Justice Reform

  • Jessica Barnett
  • August 3, 2022

Key Points The Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Task Force (Task Force) found most youth entering the juvenile justice system committed low-level offenses and are “low risk to reoffend.”[1]Studies…

Backgrounder

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State Budget

2022 Pa. Budget Checklist

  • June 17, 2022

Limit Spending to Help Pennsylvanians Cope with Inflation Record inflation caused by federal overspending is hitting Pennsylvanians hard. Inflation is up 8.6 percent from last year and…

Fact Sheet

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Criminal Justice Reform

Why Pennsylvania Needs Probation Reform

  • Brandon Van Dyck
  • December 15, 2021

Pennsylvania has an overburdened probation system that delivers substandard results. The commonwealth’s recidivism rate is 41 percent—one of the highest in the nation.

Backgrounder

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Pennsylvania’s Use of ARPA Funds

  • Brandon Van Dyck
  • September 23, 2021

ARPA is a $1.9 trillion federal bill passed in March 2021. Supporters of the legislation argued that our country needed the added spending to stimulate a nationwide recovery from the…

Fact Sheet

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How to Balance the Budget: Revenue Options

  • Andrew Abramczyk
  • October 2, 2020

Pennsylvania’s partial-year budget to fund the government through November relied on federal emergency aid to patch a prospective deficit. The state cannot count on such extra resources in the future.

Backgrounder

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Government Accountability

Solutions to Preventing Tax Increases in 2021

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 26, 2020

Lawmakers can respect the Pennsylvania constitution’s balanced budget amendment and act to prevent tax increases that will drive more families and businesses out of the state, further shrinking the revenue…

Memo

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Regulation

Fleeing Philly

  • October 23, 2019

Roughly 60,000 people leave Philadelphia every year, significantly more than those who move in from other towns or cities according to a Pew Charitable Trusts survey.[1]…

Media

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Regulation

Cigarette Taxes Target the Poor

  • Tirzah Duren
  • August 12, 2019

The founder of Pennsylvania, William Penn, believed strong liberty of conscience was essential to a flourishing society. But Pennsylvania’s current slough of sin taxes shrug off Penn’s warning. Pennsylvania’s sin…

Media

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