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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.
AUGUST 17, 2010 | Commentary by NATALIE ROGOL
Time to Exit Rendell's Road to Higher Taxes
Governor Rendell has proposed a series of tax increases to fill a $415 million transportation funding deficit created when the federal government rejected his plan to toll I-80 for a third time. The state's highway system is in sorry condition, but not because taxpayers pay too little.
Pennsylvania spends more on transportation than nearly every other state, and since the Governor took office, transportation spending increased 53%. The biggest problems with the state's infrastructure are misguided spending and inefficiency, which can be resolved without new taxes.
JUNE 23, 2010 | Testimony by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE
More Reforms Before More Revenue in Transportation
Testimony before the Senate Transportation Committee
Good morning and thank you Chairman Rafferty for the invitation to testify before your committee and for your consideration of our policy solutions to help address Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure funding challenges.
While many in this building and in the transportation industry view Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure as a revenue problem, I would like to frame the issue as a spending problem.
MAY 3, 2010 | Policy Points by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION
Transportation Special Session Survival Guide
Gov. Rendell has called a special session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to discuss transportation funding. Here are some resources on financing and managing Pennsylvania's transportation infrastructure.
APRIL 14, 2010 | Commentary by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE, NATHAN BENEFIELD
Transportation Funding Solutions Require Reforms and Reprioritization
Now that the federal government has rejected the ill-conceived plan to toll I-80 for a third, and supposedly final time, Gov. Rendell and the General Assembly must implement serious solutions to the Commonwealth's transportation funding challenges.
MARCH 9, 2010 | Commentary by MATTHEW BROUILLETTE
For Whom The Turnpike Tolls
Tolls are appropriate because they are imposed directly upon travelers for their use of roads. However, the plan to toll I-80 represents more than a toll. It is also a tax on drivers because more than $160 million in toll dollars from the highway will be funneled to mass transit systems, primarily in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Taxing drivers in the northern tier to subsidize mass transit users in the southeast and southwest is bad public policy.
JANUARY 26, 2010 | Commentary by NATHAN BENEFIELD
Five Alternatives to Tolling I-80
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) continues its push for federal approval to toll Interstate-80, claiming that without it bridges will collapse, highways will crumble, and dogs and cats will start living together. But the proposal represents little more than a tax on I-80 drivers, as 40% of the toll revenue would be diverted to other projects, and it fails to address unnecessary transportation spending.
DECEMBER 29, 2009 | Commentary by DICK THORNBURGH
A Road to Savings: Abolish the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
The top-heavy PTC, with more than 2,000 employees, is responsible for overseeing an exponentially smaller infrastructure than PennDOT. The PTC manages 537 miles of turnpike highways; PennDOT manages nearly 40,000 highway miles along with tens of thousands more miles of local roads, railways and bridges. There is an obvious opportunity to merge the two and save a wealth in funds.
DECEMBER 16, 2009 | Commentary by KATRINA CURRIE
Five Threats to Pennsylvania's Prosperity
Pennsylvania has long been one of the most economically stagnant states in the nation. For the period 1991-2008, the Commonwealth ranked 45th in job growth, 46th in personal income growth, and 47th in population growth. Pennsylvania has also faired poorly in independent evaluations of states' business climates, in large part because of having the 11th highest state and local tax burden. Not surprisingly, the state also ranks low in interstate migration, having lost 56,000 net residents to other states from 2000 to 2008.
NOVEMBER 6, 2009 | Testimony by RANDAL O'TOOLE
Testimony on Proposed Pennsylvania High-Speed MagLev
The proposed 17-mile Pittsburgh Airport-to-Greensburg maglev line is projected to cost $3.7 billion, or nearly $220 million per mile. Projects like this typically go over budget by an average of 40 percent, so the real cost is likely to be more than $5.2 billion and more than $300 million per mile. That is easily enough money to build an eight-lane urban freeway of the same length (which typically costs well under $20 million per lane mile).
