As table game legislation inches towards final approval another reason to doubt the integrity and fiscal responsibility of the PA Gaming Control board has come to light. The Gaming Control Board has hired outside lawyers to represent agency employees and a former employee in a grand jury investigation.
Pennsylvania has a flat rate Personal Income Tax (PIT) of 3.07%. In this blog series, I will highlight some real facts about Pennsylvania's PIT. Visit Who Pays the PIT by Income and Who Recieves Tax Forgiveness
Part 3: County Distribution of PIT
There are 67 counties in [...]
Tony Phyrillas highlights Pennsylvania standings in the Reason Foundation's 18th Annual Highway Report. PA ranks 38 among the most cost-effective state-owned highway systems. The top five include small government states like North Dakota, South Carolina, and Montana. The bottom five are characterized by large burdensome state governments including [...]
Today, Commonwealth Foundation president Matthew Brouillette sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Pennsylvania's members of Congress expressing concerns over the proposed tolling of Interstate 80 across Pennsylvania. The letter outlines concerns with giving the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission - an agency fraught with corruption and inefficiency' [...]
While the debate over table games continues, another piece of legislation passed with little debate was the $1.7 billion in borrowing for the state capital budget. HB 1418 passed the Pennsylvania Senate yesterday by a 48-1 vote. The borrowing includes $325 million for Redevelopment Capital Assistance - $125 million [...]
With the health care debate still brewing on the floor of the US Senate, states are pushing back against the prospect of a government-run healthcare system. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) drafted a model for state legislation entitled "Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act" protecting the [...]
Commonwealth Foundation senior fellow Rick Dreyfuss will be on PCN's call in show tonight, discussing the looming fiscal crisis in state pension. Click here for a recent news story on the pension contribution increase.
Commonwealth Foundation Resources:
Presentation: Pensions and Politics: Why Your Taxes Will [...]It is true that if the government levies heavy taxes on carbon dioxide emissions and then provides grants, subsidies, and tax credits to renewable resource development, it will create more jobs in such fields. However, what you will not do is create a net gain in jobs.
As Josh [...]
The Tax Foundation highlights a disturbing trend among states - new taxes on health care providers. Significant taxes on health providers and hospital taxes are on the books in 22 states, six of those being recently enacted. While Pennsylvania doesn't tax hospitals, legislators did create a new on tax' [...]
I mentioned previously that the legislation authorizing table games at Pennsylvania casinos included a number of earmarks (directing funds to a specific project) and WAMs (creating a pot of money to hand out later) from the 2% local share tax. I call these handouts [...]
Governor Rendell, in his mid-year budget briefing, provided an optimistic if not misleading outlook.
The Governor claims the commonwealth ended the 2008-09 fiscal year with a $354 million surplus. (Of course this was in October, after including $1.8 billion in one-time [...]
The Commonwealth Foundation has a new project page, where you can follow all the Pennsylvania state lawmakers on Twitter, even if you don't have a Twitter account yourself. Check out Tweet Pennsylvania for the latest updates from your legislators. (Also, let us know if we are missing any
In his budget mid-year briefing, Gov. Rendell cited, repeatedly, a Pew study on states' fiscal outlook. While it is true that Pennsylvania is in better shape than states like California or New York, in terms of budget deficits, the Pew study says little about Pennsylvania's fiscal health.
For instance, the' [...]
The US Senate health care bill includes a mandate to increase the cut off level for Medicaid eligibility. This increased cut off for Medicaid will increase costs for Pennsylvania and 38 other states with eligibility cut offs below the federal legislation.
Pennsylvania will be the second hardest his state, behind only [...]
If you missed last week's luncheon, you can down the latest podcast, in which Matt Brouillette talks with Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council about their report, Rich States, Poor States evaluating states' economic competitiveness and the policies which can improve, or hamper, Pennsylvania's business climate.
Podcast:' [...]
The state budget passed in October did not include a severance tax on natural gas. The tax would've impeded the development of the fledgling industry; discouraging new investments while hurting already existing natural gas facilities. According to the Pennsylvania Economy League, more than 26,000' [...]
Pennsylvania came in 11th among 40 states in the annual ranking of state charter school laws by the Center for Education Reform. While the Commonwealth has been better in addressing deficiencies in their charter laws, there are still areas that need attention.
For instance, school boards are inconsistent in their [...]
Gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato has proposed a series of higher education policies aimed at increasing the amount of college grads by 6% in 4 years and improving affordability. All together, the spending would amount to $600 million.
Here are the proposals:
Increase grants from PHEAA to low-income college students so that [...]Tim Potts talks about a Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention with Ron Morris on Pittsburgh Business Radio.
[...]Here are some of the recent blogs mentioning or citing the Commonwealth Foundation:
Students for Liberty comments on our back-and-forth with Gov. Rendell on education spending and performance and notes our scholarships for PA students interested in the next Students for Liberty conference.If you didn't make it to the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association event at PA Society this weekend, Matt Brouillette has a good summary of what the candidates for Pennsylvania governor, as well as US Senate candidate Pat Toomey and Governor Rendell had to say, from his Twitter feed.
Don Boudreaux has an outstanding op-ed explaining the futility, and the misnomer, of "creating jobs"
Jobs are not scarce. They never have been. They're all around us. There are far too many of them ever to be done.
My house needs to be painted. I'd enjoy having a personal masseuse. I'd' [...]
The Tribune Review reports Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is continuing to threaten a tax on tuition, attempting to use a jedi mind trick to persuade universities to cough up more money. This despite the fact that state legislators are already pushing legislation to stop a tax on tuition, [...]
The Post-Gazette features an article on the upcoming cost increases to Pennsylvania school districts and the state for pensions in the Public School Employees Retirement System (PSERS). The article notes the dramatic cost in pensions in the coming years, some of the causes of the crisis, and quotes PSERS [...]
The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, a renowned advocate for school choice programs, recently published their 2009-10 edition of "The ABC's of School Choice" in which they highlight scholarship and tax credit programs from across the nation offering more educational freedom to students and their parents.
Among the highlighted [...]
After reportedly taking "WAMs" out of the state budget, it appears Pennsylvania lawmakers are may create a new pot of funds for WAMs in the table games bill - i.e. WAMs from Gambling, or "Wambling." From the Morning Call:
Rep. Craig Dally, R-Northampton, said he is concerned about the local [...]
The Wall Street Journal has a good discussion of yet another stimulus - correctly identify it as Stimulus III (noting both the $787 billion stimulus from earlier this year, along with the $165 billion stimulus from 2008). This new proposed stimulus would be focused on "creating job". No really, [...]
We at CF are fighting on behalf of all Pennsylvanians for a freer and more prosperous PA. Although it's an uphill battle, we do believe that Pennsylvania's best days are ahead--now that's a cause worth fighting for!
Please show your support for CF this week! Stop by the Facebook Chase Community [...]
The Pennsylvania Legislative Budget and Finance Committee put out a preliminary report on the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) a few months ago, but the report has been sitting on my desk waiting for my Internet access to go down before I read it.
The report includes a lot of [...]
The benevolent Department of Community and Economic Development most recently bestowed its generosity on the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Central Pennsylvania by awarding it $20,000. This money will "help start-ups and other businesses."
Incidentally, the Chamber president, Paul Navarro, is also the president of New-Cumberland based Navarro & Wright [...]
State Representative Mike Vereb will unveil legislation to eliminated the corrupt, patronage ridden Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission at a press conference tomorrow. Capitol Ideas has some notes on the bill.
Last week, former Congressman John Peterson also called on eliminating the Turnpike Commission in an op-ed.
[...]Pennsylvania has a flat rate Personal Income Tax (PIT) of 3.07%, which is a fair and simple distribution of taxation. Yet some people are imprudently calling for a state-wide graduated income tax, similar to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In this blog series, I will highlight various reasons why one [...]
In a letter to the Philadelphia Inquirer, SEPTA general manager Joe Casey challenges our commentary in which we called for SEPTA to competitively contract routes and for barriers to public sector strikes. Casey says that SEPTA's pension "plan is fiscally sound", that "SEPTA is financially" [...]
Governor Ed Rendell just announced $15.4 million in economic development assistance to renovate its York County factory and train workers.
$14 million of the $15.4 million comes from Capital Redevelopment Assistance. The money for this fund is part of the capital budget - i.e. borrowed from taxpayers by issuing bonds. [...]
Following the Commonwealth Foundation's call for a legislative inquiry into use of tax dollars to stifle, rather than foster, scientific inquiry in the case of Penn State professor Michael Mann, (who, emails reveal, participated hid scientific evidence about climate change to [...]
The Tax Foundation has a new Fiscal Fact on Pennsylvania's tax system and its impact on inter-state migration. After profiling Pennsylvania's tax climate (hint: it is near the bottom in most categories), Scott Hodge notes outlines how Pennsylvania has done in competition [...]
As unemployment continues to rise and talk of a jobs stimulus circulates some are advocating for another increase in the minimum wage. But such a move would destroy jobs instead of spurring employment, especially for younger workers.
Under President Bush the minimum wage increased from $5.15 to $7.25 over the [...]
The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council released their Small Business Survival Index 2009 on Tuesday. Pennsylvania ranks 27th on the Index (1 being the best state for small businesses). Click here for the full report.
Pennsylvania's economic competitiveness will be the subject of our next Policies & [...]
Harley's heavily unionized employees came to a "compromise" through a new contract that will likely keep the company in Pennsylvania. Union leaders said, although they are not satisfied with this contract, Harley's decision to move would be catastrophic.
So what does the contract include? According to Central Penn Business Journal [...]
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The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue released November revenue collections yesterday. Once again, the actual General Fund collections were somewhat below projections; $56 million (or 3%) for the month. The state is now $217 million (or 2%) short of estimate for the fiscal year.
With the exception of October, which feature [...]
Elizabeth Bryan and I discuss the proposed tuition tax in Pittsburgh in a podcast. Joining us for part of the conversation is Aaron Gross, a student coordinator of the StopTuitionTax campaign.
The Wall Street Journal today features a important read on what lies behind climate research, in the wake of the email scandal. Noting that climate change alarmists decry anyone dissenting as being a "denier" funded by special interests, Bret Stephens notes [...]
Here are some recent Commonwealth Foundation mentions in the blogosphere.
The Morning Call’s Capitol Ideas blog noted the Commonwealth Foundation taking issue with the Climate Change Advisory Committee findings on climate change in Pennsylvania. The Chamber Post blog excerpted a section of our commentary on PLAs – Pennsylvania: [...]The Patriot New ran in an article on property tax "relief" the day after Thanksgiving, giving homeowners a reason not to be thankful.
The governor's dream to make Pennsylvania a gambling state has come true, but it has failed to live up to its much-hyped solution to end the ever-burdensome [...]
It's official, I am now an elected official, having won a random drawing - that's democracy in action - for Judge of Election in my precinct. While I am unsure of the duties of the office, I will insist that my staff call me "The Honorable Matt Brouillette", at least [...]
Penn State University is going to "look into" the emails from and about university professor Michael Mann, which indicate, among other things, hiding scientific evidence about climate change to further a political agenda.
The Commonwealth Foundation recent sent a letter to [...]
The Tribune Review gives a strong exposé on why taxpayers continue to lose - Pennsylvania state and local governments spent $4 million to lobby the federal and state government for higher spending. Of course, while federal grants to the state and state grants to local governments make elected officials [...]
With jobs losses continuing to mount, Congress is considering a third economic "stimulus" (pundits often ignore the Bush stimulus of 2008) in as many years - calling this one a "jobs bill". But in talking about the jobs bill, members of [...]
ABC 27 reports that both the Pennsylvania House and Senate will not be printing calendars to give away this year (which typically featured a "courtesy of Rep. Name") sticker. This is an issue we helped bring to the forefront, and investigated the [...]
Pennsylvania has a flat rate Personal Income Tax (PIT) of 3.07%, which is a fair and simple distribution of taxation. Yet some people are imprudently calling for a state-wide graduated income tax, similar to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). In this blog series, I will highlight some real facts about [...]
A recent report by the Cato Institute concluded "High rates of unionization in the public sector have led to very high labor costs in the form of generous collective bargaining contracts."
This is something we are constantly seeing played out in Pennsylvania...
Take the recent SEPTA strike in Philadelphia; government [...]
Britain's Climate Research Unit verified hackers confiscated email correspondence between top climatologists, putting Penn State's director of Earth System Science Center, Michael E. Mann, directly in the middle of the biggest scandal to hit the climate change debate.
Mann told the Washington Post these letters are being taken out [...]
Let's see how many dirty political games you can fit into one case - from union thuggery to corporate welfare, to rent-seeking to holding taxpayers and employees hostage - the Harley case encompasses it all!
Governor Rendell's commitment to keeping Harley in York has been unwavering. He especially asked the secretary [...]
Pittsburgh City Schools may soon finalize their second huge grant. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is granting the system $40 million over 6 and half years to improve the cities public schools. In 1988 the district received an unprecedented $12.5 million from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. [...]
The Association of Physician and Surgeons has a one-page handout on some number and facts about the latest Senate health care bill.
Thanksgiving Health Care Handout
Note that while I recommend the handout, [...]
Much mockery has been made of the reported "jobs created or saved" by the stimulus package - from jobs created in Congressional districts that don't exist to the Washington Examiner's collection of non-existent jobs (to this point, finding 80,000 of the reported 640,000 jobs created to be' [...]
My prepared remarks to the "Million Med March" in Harrisburg
Thank you. Good afternoon. Thanks for everyone here for coming out - I know none of us really want to spend our Saturday at the state capitol. Normally, I'd be watching the Michigan-Ohio State football' [...]
Pittsburgh's financial problems are such that it gave rise to the Intergovermental Cooperation Authority(ICA) - formed by none other than, perennially in-deficit Governor, Ed Rendell. The ICA was put in place 5 years ago to solve Pittsburgh's financial worries. Five years later, with an ever increasing budget deficit and [...]
ATR has a new report on state tax trends. In addition to a roundup of state tax changes, the new report highlights trends with policy implications.
While we pointed out previously that residents are fleeing high-tax states to low-tax states, ATR's analysis also finds [...]
Following the recent "Taxpayers March on Harrisburg," as well as recent health care protests in Washington DC and elsewhere, a grassroots organizer posed the question, "what should we do now?" Here are a few thoughts for the tea party movement.
Protest is not enough. Repeated protests and rallies can simply be [...]
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission's ill-advised attempts to toll I-80 continues; yesterday, Brian Chase, an independent consultant, spoke to the House Republican Policy Committee (PLS Subscription) about the validity of a firm hired by the Turnpike Commission's to assess tolling I-80.
Major criticisms include:
The PTC did not use an [...]
Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields is lobbying support for a prevailing wage law in the municipality. His bill would set prevailing wage rates for most employees working under city contracts or city subsidized developments.
The city’s controller office would set the wage rates, and other compensation, to the [...]
One of the most common critiques of full-time state legislatures is the sheer amount of seemingly useless resolutions - to pander to certain groups of voters - that take up legislative agendas. While interning for the House of Representatives, I saw this was very common from both parties on the [...]
Yesterday, US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put forth a new, 2,074 page health care reform bill. The Senate is expected to vote on it in the next few days. Click here to read the whole thing. That is too much for me, so I will instead read both [...]
With the expiration of rate caps in 2010 I've been tracking the entrance of new residential suppliers in the central PA electricity market. These days it's rare to see actual deregulation, but this process is a great example of the power of free markets to improve our quality of life.' [...]
Normally I don't respond to allegations of untrue research, but I feel compelled to do so because it is the Governor of Pennsylvania.
I am not sure what the Governor is celebrating when only 49.2 percent of students in urban Philadelphia actually graduate based on 2006 data.
Governor Rendell also' [...]
Ever since former president George W. Bush unveiled plans for the new presidential center in his name which would focus on fiscal restraint, he has faced fair amount of ridicule from folks like the Cato Institute. And not unjustifiably, given statements like "too much state intervention and protectionism" [...]
Back in September of 2008, Governor Rendell announced a state-wide hiring freeze in all agencies under his control to help curb declining revenues and a weakened national economy. Now, over a year later, Rendell has announced that more state layoffs will be coming this week, with 319 jobs [...]
As many readers will be aware, Pennsylvania lawmakers, judges, and executive branch officials receive an automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), using the CPI for Philadelphia as the measure for inflation.
What is interesting is the CPI for the past year (Oct 2008 to Oct 2009) actually comes out to a negative [...]
Here at CF we strive to shed light on corruption, fraud, and misuse of our tax dollars at the state and local level. But it can get a bit depressing to hear repeated stories of graft and how poorly our state ranks in terms of [...]
The recovery.gov website lists a number of job creation success stories in congressional districts accross many states. For instance, in Arizona's 15th congressional district 30 jobs were created with $761,420 in stimulus money. There is one problem though. There is no 15th congressional district in Arizona; the state' [...]
Alan Reynolds outlines a very basic economic concept: longer limits (and increased benefits) for taxpayer-funded unemployment compensation - as was mandated in the federal stimulus, and repeated by Congress again - results in higher unemployment.
In reality, the evidence is overwhelming that the February stimulus bill has added at least [...]
A new report from the Science & Public Policy Institute (SPPI) focuses solely on climate trends in the Pennsylvania. The report highlights climate trends unique to the state - from temperatures, crop yields, to diseases - which reveals that most changes are either non-anthropogenic or negligible.
The report concludes [...]
In 2008, the General Assembly passed the Pennsylvania Climate Change Act (Act 70). This act created the Climate Change Advisory Committee (CCAC), which was charged with implementing a study on the possible impacts of climate change on PA. The Department of Environmental Protection has worked very closely with the [...]
Reason TV has a new video explaining the intense lobbying between UPS and FedEx, in which UPS is calling for FedEx to be covered under the National Labor Relations Act - and drive up their labor costs.
The bottom line, as Nick Gillespie aptly puts it, is the true villain [...]
WFMZ features a story on a health care protest outside Congressman Charlie Dent's office, featuring Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan, who is also challenging Dent (HT Grassroots PA). Callahan is quoted often, usually repeated typical MoveOn.org rhetoric that indicates he doesn't understand much of the details. Callahan says:
"We need" [...]
The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has a new video out on the red-ink train wreck of government-run healthcare.
[...]
The solar industry, teamed with congress, is trying to get the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act passed. This act creates a 30% tax credit for solar manufactures and makes available a cash grant program. What is striking is that the solar industry is seeking this elite handout so it [...]
Here are some recent CF mentions in the blogosphere
PointOfLaw.com and National Review Online - feature a CF preview of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court electionThe Heritage Foundation points out an interesting fact - 51% of union members are government workers, according to the most recent data, an all-time high. And I assumed General Motors and Chrysler Employees are included, ostensibly, in the private sector.
Following the indictment of 10 State House Republicans (a current lawmaker and a former lawmaker and 8 staff), the Pennsylvania Capitol has been abuzz (click here for a statement from the Commonwealth Foundation).
My favorite quote comes from Philadelphia Daily News columnist John Baer comparing the new charges [...]
Auditor General Jack Wagner reprimanded the Department of General Services for their failure to execute and oversee state contracts. Since 2003 a large number of contracts have not been competitively bid including, emergency contracts totaling $678 million and no-bid contracts worth $1.1 billion. No numbers on change orders could [...]
Many pundits, members of the media, and elected officials (or their spokesman), cite employment data showing "fewer jobs lost" in October (or in the case of the state, September) than in previous months - and then claim that is a sign the economy is turning around. This is a [...]
The US House health care bill not only has little significant tort reform, it in fact limits states from enacting meaningful tort reform. This statement taken directly from the text of the health care bill, stipulates that a state "Medical Liability Alternatives" will only be supported if "the law" [...]
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has issued an executive order to stop city officials from asking immigration status for the express purpose of boosting the city's population in the Census, and get more money from the federal government - i.e. taxpayers. (HT GrassrootsPA:)
Besides the obvious ramifications of' [...]
Capitolwire (subscription) is reporting that State Representative Mario Civera (R- Delaware), who was recently elected to the Delaware County Council, is now rethinking resigning, and planning both to stay in the State House (and serve as Appropriations Chair), and serve as a county official:
Three House Republicans have been seeking [...]Last month the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) released Pennsylvania's Climate Change Action plan. While touting the creation of "green jobs", it did not advocate increasing PA's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (the solution contained in HB 80) among its many recommendations. The Patriot-News noted, "The report" [...]
The Pennsylvania House State Government Committee advanced HB 1880, sponsored by Representative Rick Mirabito, that would create an online database of state spending, similar to legislation already enacted in 26 other states. (HT Jim Christiana, who has championed this issue from the Republican side of the aisle).
Elizabeth [...]
Any prudent individual would not plan on gambling winnings to become prosperous or even to get out of debt. But the state of Pennsylvania, turns to gambling to resolve all its financial woes. But, after all, Pennsylvania can hardly be labeled "fiscally prudent."
The number of institutions gambling revenue is intended [...]
Marty Feldstein has an editorial in the Washington Post detailing how the current health care reform proposals in Congress could actually increase the number of uninsured individuals. Namely, he points to some of the mandates contained in the legislation.
Specifically, mandating [...]
The Tax Foundation highlights a new NBER paper by Harvard economists, "Large Changes in Fiscal Policy: Taxes Versus Spending," which analyzes the fiscal policies of OECD countries from 1970-2000.
The study confirms what we've been saying for years - increased government spending is less effective' [...]
In last Tuesday's race for Central Dauphin school board candidates clashed over the privatization of the district's busing. The pro-privatization candidate- Chris Judd narrowly won, but that hasn't silenced the controversy.
In August the school board voted to privatize their transportation services and hired Durham School Services. Of course' [...]
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again - seems to be the motto of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission as they seek once again to Toll I-80. The federal Highway Administration has already denied the request by the PTC twice, because it is doesn't meet the legal requirements. [...]
Alex Charyna points out this tidbit in the Philadelphia Daily News - one demand of the SEPTA union was more Viagra:
Yes, it appears that labor issues are not the only dysfunction troubling SEPTA workers. The Daily News reported that some are unhappy that their current health-care plans cover [...]
Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord told the Pocono Record that now is the time to address the state pension crisis, rather than later, a point the Commonwealth Foundation agrees with. However, McCord's proposed fix is extremely misguided:
Taxpayers would be better served in the long run if the state legislators [...]The city of Harrisburg is hiring a consultant to give some tips to balance its budget, ABC 27 reports. Lancaster, PA hired the same firm a few years ago - at a cost of $200,000 to taxpayer (the bulk of which was inexplicably paid by the state).
Management Partners, Inc. [...]
The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story today that Pennsylvania business groups - especially in natural gas, tobacco, and gambling industries - spent a lot of money lobbying during the state budget. Yet while several quoted in the article point on their problems with the lobbying, no one point out [...]
