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K–12 School Funding in PA Remains Inadequate and Inequitable
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 26, 2024. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT OR DOWNLOAD. Loading Viewer… Continue reading
Author: Marc Stier
From Work to Wealth and Back Again
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 25, 2024. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD. Americans suffer because we reward wealth more than work. Here’s how we got here and how we can create an economy that works for all of us. Introduction The pursuit of tax justice is now central to the work of both the Pennsylvania Policy Center and our advocacy arm Pennsylvanians Together. It is also the theme of our People’s Budget Summit this year. In developing this campaign, we needed to pull together a lot of research about the history and politics of economic and tax policy over the last forty years. Our executive director has been working on a long paper that surveys this broad topic, which should be read for release by the end of the summer. He was far enough along, however, to give a 15-minute talk previewing… Continue reading
Testimony to the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 21, 2024. Our executive director, Marc Stier, presented this testimony at the first public hearing of the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission on June 17, 2021. Stier is also the senior advisor to the advisory committee to the Commission. This testimony sets a range of questions that we believe the Tax Reform Commission should answer in its work. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT OR DOWNLOAD. Tax-Commission-TestimonyDownload Continue reading
Create a State Earned Income Tax Credit in 2024!
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 14, 2024. In our first post in this series, we argued that if the Pennsylvania General Assembly chooses to cut taxes in the budget that begins on July 1st, it should limit the cut to less than $1 billion per year and focus the benefits of the cut on low- and moderate-income Pennsylvanians. There is one plan that meets both of these criteria perfectly: a state earned income tax credit. The federal earned income tax credit (EITC) is a program that puts more money into the pockets of low- and middle-income families by giving them a credit against the taxes they pay. It was a program created by the Nixon administration and expanded under subsequent Republican presidents. It has traditionally been supported by Republicans who believe, correctly, that it encourages and makes it possible for people with low incomes to enter and… Continue reading
Should We Cut Taxes in 2024–25, and if so—How?
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 14, 2024. In response to a Senate vote in favor of a small reduction in the personal income tax rate and the gross receipts tax on electricity, we pointed out that this is not the right time to be reducing taxes in Pennsylvania. At the moment, the state has a substantial budget surplus of more than $13 billion—but we need that surplus for two purposes. First, we are currently using it to pay the state’s operating expenses and will continue to do so because annual expenditures exceed annual revenues by more than $3 billion. Second, the state has serious needs that require additional investment. To start with, we will eventually need an additional $6–$7 billion per year to meet the constitutional and moral responsibility to adequately and equitably fund K–12 education. And then there are critical needs in both pre-K and higher… Continue reading
Speech by Marc Stier — Education Funding Rally at the Capitol
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on May 8, 2024. May 8, 2024 The data is clear. The Courts have ruled. The defendants in the case didn’t appeal the decision. This Commonwealth has systematically discriminated against kids in low-income, Black, and brown communities for decades. How can anyone look the kids and parents of this commonwealth in the eye and say, “I oppose fully and fairly funding your education”? The only answer the opponents have given is “we can’t afford it.” Yet there is $14 billion in the state’s bank accounts that would cover at least the first four years of the program, while leaving billions in the rainy day fund. To that, the opponents say we can’t use that money for recurring expenses. Yet yesterday they voted for a proposal that would create a $2.7 billion reduction in recurring revenues and soon use up the entire surplus. So… Continue reading
Republicans Choose Tax Cuts for the Rich over Funding Education
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on May 7, 2024. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-41) introduced legislation to cut Pennsylvania’s personal income tax rate from the current 3.07% to 2.8%. This legislation is both deeply cynical and totally revealing of the unfortunate priorities of Republicans in Harrisburg. For it shows us that, once again, they have chosen to cut taxes for the rich rather than fund education fully and fairly. Ever since a majority of the Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC), with the support of Governor Shapiro, embraced a seven-year plan to meet the constitutional obligation to fund our schools, the Republicans have had only one response: “We can’t afford it.” They did not appeal the Commonwealth Court decision, which declares that the current system of funding schools is unconstitutional. They did not propose an alternative to the BEFC plan. They just said, “We can’t afford it,” even… Continue reading
End Local Minimum Wage Preemption
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 1, 2024. By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center As I documented in a previous blog post, there is no question that the minimum wage is worth less than what it was at an earlier time in our history, even though we are a far more prosperous country today than in the past. And yet large numbers of people—more than 21% of all workers in Pennsylvania—earn less than $15 per hour or just above it. And that’s why we need a minimum wage. It is one of the critical policies that, like the right to form unions, the social safety net, and a tax system that asks the rich to pay at a higher rate than the poor, ensures we have an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy owners of huge corporations. We show… Continue reading
It’s Long Past Time to Raise the Minimum Wage
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 1, 2024. By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center I took my first regular paid job as a hotel bellhop in 1966 when I was eleven. It was hard work—in many ways harder than anything I do today. People came to stay for a week or three and that meant a summer of schlepping heavy bags, sometimes up two flights of stairs. The tips were sometimes good and sometimes not. The minimum wage in 1968 was $1.60. But when I got my first paycheck, I was astounded to see that my pay rate was only eighty cents per hour. This made no sense to me, so I went to speak to my boss. I said, “Mom, why am I only getting paid half of the minimum wage?” She explained the tipped minimum wage to me that day and ever since I’ve… Continue reading
The Minimum Wage, the Contemporary Economy, and Economic Justice
Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on March 29, 2024. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD. Click to access Minimum-Wage-and-Economic-Justice.pdf Continue reading