Taxes & Economy

Taxpayers Guide to the Rendell Property Tax Relief Act of 2006

  • February 1, 2007

For more than three decades, Pennsylvania policymakers have repeatedly attempted to devise a mechanism to reduce school district property taxes on homeowners. Such a mechanism has been elusive. A number…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Taxpayers Guide to the Rendell Property Tax Relief Act of 2006

Regulation

Pension Reform

  • October 6, 2006

Taxpayer contributions to Pennsylvania state and school employee’s retirement plans are expected to escalate dramatically beginning in 2011-12. Retiree healthcare will also place enormous burdens on future taxpayers. Specific actions…

Fact Sheet

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Taxes & Economy

The Estimated Impact of the Swann Tax Cuts

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 25, 2006

Executive Summary Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann has proposed a number of changes to state tax rates. This analysis focuses on four major components of that proposal—namely reductions in the…

Fact Sheet

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Taxes & Economy

Total Cost of Pennsylvania State & Local Government

  • September 13, 2006

The total cost of state and local government in Pennsylvania reached an estimated $108.3 billion in FY 2005-06, and will likely exceed $130 billion by FY 2010-11 (by conservative projections).

Fact Sheet

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Regulation

The Merits of a Judicial Pay Raise in Pennsylvania

  • June 30, 2006

On July 7, 2005, a political firestorm was ignited in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the form of a controversial pay raise for legislators, members of the executive branch, and…

Fact Sheet

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State Budget

Pennsylvania Piglet Book 2006

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 30, 2006

The Pennsylvania Piglet Book 2006 is the joint effort of the Commonwealth Foundation and Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) to make the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania aware of…

Report

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The Property Tax Relief Scholarship Act

  • Matthew Brouillette, Nathan Benefield
  • April 12, 2006

To date, the school property tax discussion in Pennsylvania has narrowly focused on the revenue side of the equation, without addressing the spending side of the ledger. This has led…

Fact Sheet

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Public Union Democracy

Property Taxpayer Protections: Tax Referendum & Prevailing Wage

  • December 14, 2005

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is in the midst of discussing what to do about school property taxes. The discussion is an old one in Harrisburg. The complexity of this issue…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Property Taxpayer Protections: Tax Referendum & Prevailing Wage

State Budget

Pennsylvania’s Spending Limitation Bills

  • Matthew Brouillette
  • November 8, 2005

Pennsylvania is Exhibit #1 proving the axiom: “You can have government growth, or you can have economic growth, but you can’t have both!” For years, Pennsylvania public policy has increased…

Fact Sheet

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Taxes & Economy

Minimum Wage: Facts

  • October 18, 2005

Proponents of artificial increases in the government-mandated minimum wage argue, among other things, that raising the hourly minimum wage will help to lift families with children out of poverty and…

Fact Sheet

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Taxes & Economy

Rail Disasters 2005

  • June 29, 2005

This paper reviews ridership and other transit data published by the Federal Transit Administration from 1982 through 2003, plus 2004 ridership data published by the American Public Transportation Association, to…

Report

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Health Care

Preferred Drug Lists (PDLs)

  • June 21, 2005

Governor Ed Rendell has proposed a Medicaid “Preferred Drug List” (PDL) as a means to address Pennsylvania’s welfare spending problem. PDLs limit the availability of drugs to Medicaid recipients and…

Fact Sheet

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Regulation

Growing Greener II

  • May 13, 2005

While Pennsylvanians obviously want an environmentally safe and economically prosperous state, the $625 million debt plan known as “Growing Greener II” guarantees neither.

Fact Sheet

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Taxes & Economy

Tax Cuts & Economic Growth

  • May 11, 2005

The paramount economic lesson of the past several decades is that tax cuts stimulate growth and increased government spending chokes it off. DIDN’T PENNSYLVANIA TRY THE TAX-CUT APPROACH IN THE…

Fact Sheet

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Regulation

Internet Taxes

  • February 10, 2005

A number of bills in the General Assembly represent the essential first step in extending the Commonwealth’s sales tax to out-of-state purchases—including those made over the Internet—through the national initiative…

Fact Sheet

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State Budget

Total Cost of Pennsylvania Government: 2005 and Beyond

  • February 8, 2005

The total cost of state and local government in Pennsylvania is projected to exceed $102 billion in FY 2004-05, and will likely reach more than $115 billion by the 2008-09…

Fact Sheet

Read More: Total Cost of Pennsylvania Government: 2005 and Beyond