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August 27, 2010 | Commentary by NATHAN BENEFIELD
Gov. Rendell's Gamesmanship
While table games have been in Pennsylvania casinos for more than a month, I don't know if Gov. Rendell has tried his luck. But it would be a safe wager that he's a fantastic poker player. Why? For eight years, he's been able to bluff, bully, and stare down anyone who opposes his tax-borrow-and-spend agenda.
July 29, 2010 | Testimony by NATHAN BENEFIELD
Lancaster Co. Human Relations Commission
Testimony of Nathan A. Benefield to the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners: July 29, 2010
I hope the Commissioners will seriously consider both the costs and the benefits of the LCHRC. They may find that there is reason to continue this work, but I hope not to pay lip service to "promoting diversity," but for the actual results and performance of the LCHRC's work.
July 22, 2010 | Commentary by MICHAEL NEROZZI, NATHAN BENEFIELD
I&R: Our Inalienable Right to Reform
It is clear our government will not reform itself. Article I, Section 2 of the Pennsylvania Constitution recognizes the right of the citizens to "alter, reform or abolish their government in such manner as they may think proper." It is past time to exercise this right, but the General Assembly and Governor have not provided the means to do so.
Recent Blog Posts
SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
PA Unemployment Fraud Adding to Already-Bankrupt System
As PA Independent reports today, Pennsylvania had $374 million in overpayments for Unemployment Compensation (UC) last year, including $227 million in fraudulent claims, according to the US Department of Labor. These fraudulent payments represent almost 5% of total payments, the 9th highest fraud rate in the country.
Pennsylvania's UC fund has borrowed $3 billion from the federal government (a number that continues to grow). Both candidates for governor -- Dan Onorato and Tom Corbett -- have acknowledged the problems in our UC system and the need for reform. Nearly everyone recognizes this as a major issue, except Gov. Rendell -- he still thinks the only issue facing Pennsylvania is not enough tax revenue.
I'll be on NBC 8 (WGAL) in the Harrisburg area tonight talking about this issue.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 03:30 PM | 0 comment
SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
Should Higher Taxes be a "Priority"?
Here is a letter I sent the Patriot News on a natural gas jobs tax:
Your August 31 editorial states that a natural gas tax should be the state legislature's "No. 1 Priority". This seems to be a solution looking for a problem. Which of the many issues facing Pennsylvania would a tax on this job-creating industry solve?
While your editorial uses environmental concerns to drum up support, a tax would do nothing to protect the environment. In fact, the revenue from the proposed tax would not even go toward environmental protection, but rather to the General Fund to finance Gov. Rendell's pork spending.
Gas drillers are paying for the cost of environmental inspections through license fees and mitigation costs through fines. Drillers are putting millions into repairing and even improving local roads. And the revenue drilling already brings-corporate income taxes, leasing fees and royalty payments, and income taxes from local job creation-is overlooked.
If companies were forced to pay another tax, where would that money come from? Certainly not from a pot of money hidden under a corporate CEO's mattress, but from future investment in Pennsylvania, wages for workers, or even companies' spending on safety measures.
The notion that an industry should be taxed simply because it can be taxed is more than just faulty logic. It's bad policy.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 10:40 AM | 0 comment
AUGUST 31, 2010
The Imagined Effect of the Stimulus
Louis Woodhill writes on Real Clear Markets how the CBO's estimated impact of the stimulus is a fantasy.
In fact, the CBO readily admits it is simply plugging new spending numbers into the same model it used before the stimulus was enacted (HT Center for Fiscal Accountability):
CBO director Doug Elmendorf laid out the CBO's methodology pretty clearly, describing his office's frequent, legally-required stimulus reports as "repeating the same exercises we [already] did rather than an independent check on it." CBO tweaks its models on the input side, he says—adjusting, for example, how much money the government has spent. But the results the CBO reports—like the job creation figures—are simply a function of the inputs it records, not real-world counts.
To simplify, lets say the CBO model predicts that for every $1 million spent, 4 jobs are created or saved (the model itself is more complex than this, but yields a similar result).
That is, $800 billion = 2 million jobs or $600 billion = 1.5 million jobs.
Prior to the stimulus being enacted, the CBO estimates were based on how much money was expected to have been spent. The updates plug how much money was actually spent into the model.
Some will defend the model as sound, but it does not represent a measurement of the actual impact of the stimulus.
posted by NATHAN BENEFIELD | 11:03 AM | 0 comment
