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Make-Believe Budgeting in Harrisburg

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally appeared on the Third and State Blog, May 24, 2016 I’ve been doing political advocacy for over ten years and have been a teacher and writer about politics for a lot longer. I don’t surprise easily. But what I saw today at the press conference at which Senator Scott Wagner and the “Taxpayer’s Caucus” presented their three billion dollars in proposed budget cuts, left me almost speechless. I walked into the room to see a list of cuts, and near the top was a $922 million cut to the Department of Human Services (DHS). I know how devastating real budget cuts of that magnitude would be to senior citizens who get long-term care through Medical Assistance, the working poor who get health care through the same program (which is called Medicaid everywhere else), and people who are intellectually disabled and mentally ill. So I was prepared for the worst.… Continue reading

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Finally: Waste, Fraud, and Abuse!

  By Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget

Originally appeared on the Third and State blog, May 24, 2016 After ribbing Senator Wagner and his fellow members of the taxpayer caucus for not understanding the basics of budgeting, I want to acknowledge that they did come up with a really good idea today. It appears that the Pennsylvania State Police take two sheets of paper to print tickets. Some intrepid investigator discovered that they could get the whole thing on one sheet of paper if they printed in landscape rather than portrait mode. At 8 cents per sheet of paper for the 542,000 tickets they print, that’s a savings of $43,384. We at PBPC are always interested in making government cost efficient and we acknowledge that this is a great idea. We hope it won’t be delayed while we study whether it’s better to print landscape mode or just use two-sided printing. Now, at this rate of savings,… Continue reading

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How to Create a Progressive Income Tax in Pennsylvania

  By Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Published op-eds

Originally appeared as How to create a progressive income tax in Pennsylvania, in Newsworks, May 24. So, it turns out that you can actually create a fair income tax in Pennsylvania. One of the unfortunate conditions of Pennsylvania politics has been our “uniformity clause,” which prohibits taxing any one class of income at different rates. It has stood in the way of creating what most states with an income tax have, a graduated system in which those with higher incomes pay at a higher rate. A consequence of our uniformity clause is that our state and local taxes, taken together, are among the most regressive in the entire country. The Institute on Tax and Economic Policy lists Pennsylvania as one of the “Terrible Ten” states with the most unjust tax system. It’s not hard to understand why. State and local taxes take a little over 12 percent of the income of the… Continue reading

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Bernie Bros and Groupthink

  By 2016 Presidential race, Elections, US

I have been on the Philadelphia for Bernie Sanders 2016 page a bit in the last couple of days and I have to say that what I’m reading there is pretty horrifying. It includes the following claims: 1. Projections about how Bernie is going to win that are utterly crazy. Did you know that the polls are biased against Bernie and that, rather than being down ten points in California he is poised to beat Hillary 60%-40%? 2. Given how well Bernie is going to do in the last primaries, no candidate is going to have a majority of all delegates without super-delegates voters (which is barely conceiveable) which means that the convention is an open one and thus a majority of supervoters will turn to him. 3. That they should turn to him because he is clearly more electable nationally despite the fact that no one has actually raised all… Continue reading

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The Sanders Crusade

  By 2016 Presidential race

The Bernie Sanders campaign, which I’ve critically supported, has now over-reached in a way that makes apparent what was wrong with it all along. And it has reached a moment of truth that will determine whether it will be a long-lasting force that changes our politics for the better or a momentary explosion of energy that leaves behind far less than it should—or even damages our country. Continue reading

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On Burning Your Democratic Party ID

  By 2016 Presidential race

So Will Bunch, the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist has burned his Democratic Party registration card because, among other reason “the Democratic Party leadership is far too beholden to Wall Street and other corporate interests to do the real hard work of helping America’s middle class back on its feet.”  Leaving aside just how dubious that and his other claims are, how we should look at Bunch’s act? Maybe it’s because my deepest political aspirations are so radical—and so far from anything anyone who is running for or holding office actually says or acts on—but the notion that being a “registered Democrat” is a reflection of my principles or an expression of my ideals or a matter of conscience strikes me as completely and utterly bizarre. And thus so does quitting the party. I’m a Democrat not because the party reflects my ultimate ideals, aspirations, or principles but because in addition to… Continue reading

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PBPC Research Prompts Senators to Introduce Tax Fairness Legislation

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania Budget, Pennsylvania State Taxes

Originally appeared on the Third and State blog, on May 11, 2016. Something new and unusual happened in Harrisburg today. Senators Art Haywood, Vincent Hughes and Jay Costa put forward an idea that actually could help resolve the pressing fiscal cliff we face this year, and at the same time could make our tax system more progressive. Despite partisan differences, three goals are more or less shared by everyone in Harrisburg. While their top priority may differ, for the most part, legislators all say they want: 1. to close the $1.8 billion structural deficit; 2. to spend more on education; 3. and to put no additional tax burden on low- and middle-income taxpayers. Yet no one has presented a plan to accomplish this feat. In an election year, legislators will say that they are not willing to raise the income tax or sales tax – which could generate the necessary… Continue reading

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How to Play the “Hillary is a Republican” Game

  By 2016 Presidential race

Here is how the “Hillary is a Republican” game is played and why it so absurd. (h/t Nick Alpers whose post got me started and from which I borrowed much of Step One.) Step one: Ignore all the ways that Hillary Clinton breaks with proposals that almost all Republicans support but that are anathema to Democrats: repealing Dodd-Frank; repealing the ACA; block granting Medicaid; turning Medicare into a voucher program; cutting food stamps by 60% and instituting a work requirement to get them; overturning Roe, banning abortion and opposing women’s rights across the board; destroying unions and all workers’ rights; freezing or even eliminating the federal minimum wage; privatizing social security; denying the reality of global warming and opposing cap and trade, a carbon tax, and President Obama’s clean energy plan, instituting Voter ID; reversing pretty much all civil rights legislation; overturning Obergefell and eliminating all protection for the the… Continue reading

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Those Feeling the Brunt of the Soda Tax Will Also Feel Benefits

  By PA Budget and Policy Center, Philadelphia, Published Op-Eds, Sugary Drink Tax

Originally published as Those feeling brunt of soda tax will also feel benefits, Philadelphia Daily News, April 19, 2016 THE SUGARY-DRINK tax proposed by Mayor Kenney, also known as the “soda tax,” is controversial because it takes a greater share of the income from poor families than rich ones. And since we at the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center are fundamentally committed to economic justice, we are always inclined to be suspicious of taxes that do that. So it may come as a surprise that we have concluded, overall, that the sugary-drink tax proposed by the mayor is a good idea. Though the costs fall more heavily on those with low incomes, for two reasons, more of the benefit of the tax will go to low-income Philadelphians, as well. The first benefit of the tax flows from how the new revenue will be spent – on pre-K education, community schools, and… Continue reading

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Who Benefits from the Philadelphia Soda Tax?

  By Sugary Drink Tax

The tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) proposed by Mayor Kenney, also known as the “soda tax,” is controversial mainly because, like other sales taxes, it takes a greater share of the income of poor families than rich ones. However, while the costs of the soda tax fall more heavily on those with low incomes, more of the benefit of the tax will go to low-income Philadelphians. This report examines those benefits. Click here to read full-screen or print.  Continue reading