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Taxes & Economy

Property tax proposal has lots of loopholes

• May 3, 2006

Good coverage by Christina Gostomski (and John Micek) of the Allentown Morning Call on the faux taxpayer protections in the bill moving to the House today.

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Taxes & Economy

State’s tax-reduction debate is about the wrong thing

• May 3, 2006

Good timing for the Allentown Morning Call to run my op-ed on our property tax relief scholarship act. As the counter to yesterday’s passage of Act 72 warmed…

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Expert: Property tax plan won’t help for long

• May 2, 2006

Rick Dreyfuss in the Allentown Morning Call: ”I would fully expect that any reduction the average homeowner sees in property taxes would be offset by increases … It’s just…

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State Budget

Line-Item Veto Draws Sen. Byrd’s Scorn – Yahoo! News

• Nathan Benefield
• May 2, 2006

Shockingly, the man responsible for more pork-barrel spending than anyone opposes limiting pork-barrel spending. From Yahoo! News…

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Education

Scholarships as tax relief

• Nathan Benefield
• May 2, 2006

Read Matt Brouillette’s commentary in today’s York Dispatch.

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Public Union Democracy

Thanks Union Bosses!

• May 2, 2006

Watch this Center for Union Facts commercial that will be running nationally this week. Learn more at UnionFacts.com.

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Taxes & Economy

Taxing Oil

• Nathan Benefield
• May 1, 2006

A “windfall” tax on “big oil” will only reduce the supply of oil and increase the cost of gasoline, writes Pittsburgh Tribune-Review columnist Colin McKnickle. It is a shame,…

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Regulation

State jobs: Pay, perks make for popular work

• April 30, 2006

Reading Eagle story on government jobs.

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Taxes & Economy

Free Enterprise and Taxpayer Protection Act

• April 27, 2006

An issue the Commonwealth Foundation has weighed in on, government “enterprises” that compete with private businesses. Read more about it here. Below is the Capitolwire.com story on yesterday’s hearing…

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Regulation

Auction Slots Licenses

• April 27, 2006

The Commonwealth Foundation called for auctioning off the slots licenses in 2003 and 2004, but the gambling proponents decided to “sell” them at a 90% discount rate.

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Education

Educating From the Bench

• April 27, 2006

Judges order legislators to spend more on schools, and taxpayers see less in return. Dr. Jay P. Greene in today’s Wall Street Journal.

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Taxes & Economy

Minimum wage, maximum folly

• April 26, 2006

Walter Williams in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

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Taxes & Economy

Why a windfall tax is bad policy

• Nathan Benefield
• April 25, 2006

Should the federal government create a new tax on profits only for oil companies, as Governor Rendell suggests? This “windfall tax” esentially ensures a limit on the amount of…

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Government Accountability

Court says auditor general cannot be made to review Legislature

• April 25, 2006

So much for the Auditor General being the taxpayers’ watchdog! According to the AP: “A state court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by a citizen who wanted thestate…

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Government Accountability

The price of gas

• April 25, 2006

Gouging…by government. Read the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial.

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Regulation

2001 pension vote could cost billions

• April 24, 2006

The REPUBLICAN & Herald story on the coming crisis.

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Regulation

Pension caps would benefit taxpayers

• April 24, 2006

Commonwealth Foundation Senior Fellow Rick Dreyfuss in today’s Patriot-News.

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Education

New Report on High School Graduation

• Nathan Benefield
• April 19, 2006

A new report from the Manhattan Institute, released today, attempts to calculate real (as opposed to reported) high school graduation rates, using a consistent methodology across states. They found…

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Taxes & Economy

Cut taxes to attract jobs

• April 14, 2006

Commonwealth Foundation’s Nate Benefield in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Government Accountability

One Man Collection Agency

• April 13, 2006

John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News on Gov. Rendell’s campaign contributions.

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Government Accountability

Voter fraud in Pennsylvania? Gov. Rendell isn’t worried.

• Nathan Benefield
• April 13, 2006

John Fund on Pennsylvania election fraud and oddities in today’s Wall Street Journal…

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