Prosperity

How to Balance the PA State Budget

  • January 21, 2025

Key Points Pennsylvania faces a $3.6 billion structural deficit in fiscal year (FY) 2024–25. Unless addressed, the deficit will require massive tax increases on working families by next year. Extreme…

Backgrounder

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Energy

RGGI Is a Destructive Policy for Pennsylvania

  • January 14, 2025

Overview The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a multi-state cap-and-trade program that imposes a carbon tax on power generators, resulting in a new, economy-wide energy…

Fact Sheet

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Prosperity

The Rainy Day Fund

  • January 14, 2025

Summary The Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, commonly referred to as the Rainy Day Fund, is Pennsylvania’s largest budgetary reserve fund. Pennsylvania law dictates that lawmakers may only draw from the…

Fact Sheet

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Prosperity

Deficit Watch: January 2025

  • Andrew Holman
  • January 10, 2025

Background Pennsylvania faces serious fiscal challenges. The enacted 2024–25 General Fund budget created a $3.6 billion structural deficit, with $47.6 billion in spending and only $43.9 billion in net…

Deficit Watch

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Energy

State of RGGI: Past, Present, and Future

  • André Béliveau
  • December 5, 2024

Key Points The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a multi-state cap-and-trade program that imposes a carbon tax on power generators, resulting in a new, economy-wide energy tax. Pennsylvania entered…

Backgrounder

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Fairness

Election Reform in Pennsylvania

  • November 25, 2024

Summary Ahead of the 2020 election, Pennsylvania allowed no excuse mail-in voting for the first time. Officials overwhelmed with millions of ballot requests, last-minute state guidance, and litigation resulted in…

Fact Sheet

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State Budget

EITC and Economically Disadvantaged Schools

  • November 11, 2024

Summary The Economically Disadvantaged School component of the EITC provides supplementary scholarships for Pennsylvania students receiving scholarships and attending private schools with the greatest financial need. These supplementary scholarships for…

Fact Sheet

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State Budget

Pennsylvania’s Looming Budget Challenges

  • November 6, 2024

Summary Pennsylvania’s fiscal year (FY) 2024–25 state budget has created a $3.6 billion structural budget deficit. Without a major shift in direction, this deficit will persist and grow in future…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Pennsylvania’s Looming Budget Challenges

State Budget

The Taxpayer Protection Act

  • October 29, 2024

Summary Pennsylvania faces a $3.6 billion structural deficit that will force lawmakers to cut spending or increase taxes. State spending growth far outpaces inflation, population growth, and economic growth. This…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Pa. Tax Credit Scholarships 101

  • October 24, 2024

Overview: Tax Credit Scholarship Programs Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that provide students access to high-quality schools of…

Fact Sheet

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Education

EITC Private School Tuition

  • October 14, 2024

Simple Tuition Solutions Simple Tuition Solutions (STS) processed scholarship applications for students attending 130 different private schools in 2023–24. The median tuition charge, of the 106 schools with tuition rates…

Fact Sheet

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Education

EITC: Archdiocese of Philadelphia

  • October 14, 2024

Archdiocese of Philadelphia The Archdiocese of Philadelphia (AOP) serves the five-county Philadelphia region—Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties. AOP provides EITC and OSTC scholarships to an economically and racially…

Fact Sheet

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Education

EITC Student Economic Data

  • October 14, 2024

Summary While no state agency collects comprehensive information regarding scholarship students’ family income or demographics, this report compiles data from scholarship providers and financial services providers to provide details about…

Fact Sheet

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Regulation

Prevailing Wage in Pennsylvania

  • October 7, 2024

Summary Prevailing wage law dictates the minimum wage rates paid to workers on public construction projects if the project’s estimated costs exceed a certain threshold. Pennsylvania’s threshold for prevailing wage…

Fact Sheet

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Energy

Restarting Three Mile Island: Quick Facts

  • André Béliveau
  • October 1, 2024

Quick Facts On September 20, 2024, Constellation Energy entered a 20-year agreement with Microsoft to restart Three Mile Island’s (TMI) unit one reactor, renaming the facility “Crane Clean Energy…

Fact Sheet

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Education

Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families in the Commonwealth

  • Rachel Langan
  • September 17, 2024

Key Findings Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that give thousands of low- to middle- income students access to…

Executive Summary

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Public Union Democracy

The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws

  • Andrew Holman, David Osborne
  • August 28, 2024

Key Findings The four largest government unions—American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Education Association (NEA), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—lost…

Executive Summary

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State Budget

Mass Transit Bailout

  • August 13, 2024

Summary Mass transit agencies, including Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) in Pittsburgh, have seen steep declines in ridership since 2019. Gov. Josh Shapiro…

Fact Sheet

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Education

2024–25 State Budget Analysis

  • July 12, 2024

Key Points Pennsylvania’s $47.6 billion 2024–25 budget creates a $3.6 billion structural deficit. This will exhaust General Fund reserves, which will require draining from the Rainy Day fund—illegally—or raising taxes…

Fact Sheet

Read More: 2024–25 State Budget Analysis

Energy

Pa. Travelers’ Guide: Summer Gasoline Prices

  • Hanna Bechtel
  • July 5, 2024

Pennsylvania’s June average gasoline price was higher than all its neighbor states except New York. While Pennsylvania’s gasoline price has decreased from its 2022 record high, the long-term picture shows…

Backgrounder

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