State Budget
Corporate Welfare in the 2024–25 Budget
Summary Pennsylvania’s economy is largely uncompetitive, with the state routinely losing businesses and residents to more economically competitive states like Florida, North Carolina, and Texas. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposes…
Read More: Corporate Welfare in the 2024–25 BudgetPennsylvania’s complex state budget has enabled policymakers to keep taxpayers in the dark when it comes to state spending. Year after year, some elected officials use budget gimmicks to both make the budget appear balanced and to secure their own agendas. Pennsylvanians deserve reforms that bring true transparency to the budgeting process. We must limit spending growth to a sustainable rate, ensuring the state government—like hardworking taxpayers—live within its means.
2024 state budget resources
Government Accountability
How to Make an Easy Six Million
A week ago the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office announced charges against Wing Tat Chiu and Ivy Hiu-Ying Li, a married couple whom they accuse of earning $6 million in illegal…
Media
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Economic Freedom and Flourishing in Pennsylvania
We live in a free country, but when it comes to our economy, Pennsylvanians aren’t free. Unpredictable regulation makes owning a business a huge risk in Pennsylvania, and when it…
Media
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It Won’t Get Easier: Our Take on the State’s Five Year Outlook
Last week the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) presented its annual set of fiscal and economic projections for the next five years. The full report and summary presentation are available…
Media
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Pennsylvania’s Overspending: A $1 Billion-Per-Year Disaster in the Making
November 15, 2019, Harrisburg, Pa. — A new report from the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office projects that state government will run annual deficits around $1 billion for…
Press Release
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Overspending: A $1 Billion-Per-Year Disaster in the MakingState Budget
Pennsylvania Needs the Ramsey Method
High debt, reckless spending, and impending financial ruin. That description fits both Pennsylvania and budget guru Dave Ramsey’s life before he achieved financial stability. The Ramsey method has helped millions of…
Media
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Pa. Voters Support the Taxpayer Protection Act
Nearly 2/3rds of Pennsylvanians support the Taxpayer Protection Act.
Poll
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Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 2
The state legislature controls less than half of all state revenue. The rest is on autopilot, flowing automatically through a maze of accounts and undermining the constituional plan for accountabilty…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 2Regulation
Good Returns Won’t Close the Gap
The state teachers’ pension fund, PSERS, just reported a 6.7% return over the past twelve months. That is a very good investment return. Sadly, when starting from a deep…
Media
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Pensions and Pa’s Poor Fiscal Health
Pennsylvania recently underwent a “fiscal physical’ and didn’t exactly come out with a clean bill of health. Truth in Accounting, an economic think tank, recently released its report on the…
Media
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Soda Taxes Target the Poor
Soda may not be on the list of Seven Deadly Sins but try telling that to lawmakers in Philadelphia. On January 1, 2017, the city instituted a tax of 1.5…
Media
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Mimosa Monopoly
Pennsylvania is waging a secret war on millennials. Okay, maybe not on millennials, but definitely on brunch, and that’s pretty much the same thing. The deleterious effect of Pennsylvania’s sky-high…
Media
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How to Improve State Budgeting Practices
The following testimony was given at the Pennsylvania Fiscal and Economic Summit at York College on August 22, 2019. Thank you for the opportunity to address you this morning on…
Testimony
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The Taxpayer Protection Act Is Commonsense
For over a decade, various lawmakers have introduced Taxpayer Protection Act (TPA) legislation to get a handle on Pennsylvania’s out of control budget. This overspending hurts our economy, drives away…
Media
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Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 1
Pennsylvania's largest budget items are growing unsustainably fast. The budget can only be brought under control only if these cost drivers are addressed.
Fact Sheet
Read More: Slicing Pennsylvania’s Finances, Part 1State Budget
A $673 Million Mistake…Isn’t a Mistake
In June, when the state legislature passed the budget, they included something extra: a $673 million “supplemental appropriation” to cover overspending in the previous fiscal year. In other words, the Wolf…
Media
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Pennsylvania is NOT Taking Care of Business
Pennsylvania is the 5th worst state to start a business, according to a new study by Wallethub. Only Connecticut, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Rhode Island fare worse. Then,…
Media
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Applause for ‘Mature’ Debt Reform, but More Needed
Good policy isn’t always controversial. House Bill 24, which was signed into law on July 2, caused no floor theatrics, mass tweeting, or activist howls. The bill, proposed by Rep. John Lawrence…
Media
Read More: Applause for ‘Mature’ Debt Reform, but More NeededGovernment Accountability
Budget Earmarks: Sneaky and Unconstitutional
A wise buyer should always read the fine print, but it isn’t easy. Documents like cell phone contracts and software user agreements can be hard to read, often by design. The dense language…
Media
Read More: Budget Earmarks: Sneaky and UnconstitutionalEducation
Getting Real About Education Spending
Another budget season has come and gone in Harrisburg. As usual, education spending was one of the hottest topics. Constant demands for “more money” by teachers’ unions and their…
Media
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This Year’s Budget Continues Past Trends
The 2019-2020 budget spending bill is on the governor’s desk and lawmakers are claiming it represents an increase of only 1.8 percent over last year. If this were true, it would…
Media
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Budget Spares Taxpayers, Boosts School Choice, but Leaves Much Undone
June 28, 2019, Harrisburg, Pa.—Today, lawmakers put the finishing touches on a state budget that spares Pennsylvanians from tax hikes, grows the state’s beleaguered Rainy Day Fund, and boosts school…
Press Release
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