Category: Penn Policy Center

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A Pennsylvania Budget to Celebrate

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Policy Brief

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 6, 2024. February 6, 2024 Note: This is an initial review of the fiscal year 2024–25 budget proposed by Governor Josh Shapiro on February 6, 2024. As we delve deeper into the budget we may need to revise or modify the conclusion reached here. Also note that rather than providing one lengthy, in-depth analysis of the entire budget seven weeks or so after it is released, as was done by the previous affiliate of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, we will be rolling out our in-depth analysis over the next seven weeks in a series of reports. Overview Governor Shapiro took office a year ago at a time when there was a great deal of uncertainty about the economy and the fiscal state of Pennsylvania, and in the wake of a Commonwealth Court decision holding Pennsylvania’s system of funding public… Continue reading

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STATEMENT on Governor Shapiro’s 2024–25 Budget Address

  By Penn Policy Center, Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on February 6, 2024. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 6, 2024 Contact: Kirstin Snow, Director of Communications, snow@pennpolicy.org STATEMENT on Governor Shapiro’s 2024-25 Budget Address, Pennsylvania Policy Center A Pennsylvania Budget To Celebrate Overview Governor Shapiro took office a year ago at a time when there was a great deal of uncertainty about the economy and the fiscal state of Pennsylvania, and in the wake of a Commonwealth Court decision holding that Pennsylvania’s system of funding public schools is unconstitutional. There was little time for a new administration, led by a new governor and an entirely new set of cabinet members, to develop a long-term plan to address the school funding question. Accordingly, the administration said that its initial budget would be followed by a second-year budget, which would fully address the constitutional mandate to fund K–12 education fully and fairly and other issues. And… Continue reading

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Statement on Child Tax Credit Expansion

  By Child Tax Credit, Penn Policy Center, Statement, US

STATEMENT on Child Tax Credit Expansion- Marc Stier. Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center The House Ways and Means Committee today voted in favor of bi-partisan tax legislation that includes an expansion of the child tax credit along with the restoration of some expired business tax credits. The legislation is the product of negotiations between the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith (R-MO) and the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden (D-OR). This legislation would benefit 16 million children in low-income families, or 1 in 5 of children under 17, including 506,000 children in Pennsylvania. It would especially help Black, Latino, and Asian children, whose parents are overrepresented in low-paid jobs due to structural barriers to opportunity. In the first year, the expansion of the child tax credit would lift 400,000 children nationwide- and roughly 16,000 kids in Pennsylvania- out of poverty. Additionally, another 3… Continue reading

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Statement on Federal Child Tax Credit Expansion

  By Statement

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on January 19, 2024. STATEMENT on Child Tax Credit Expansion – Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center The House Ways and Means Committee today voted in favor of bipartisan tax legislation that includes an expansion of the child tax credit along with the restoration of some expired business tax credits. The legislation is the product of negotiations between the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Jason Smith (R-MO) and the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden (D-OR). This legislation would benefit 19 million children in low-income families, or 1 in 5 of children under 17, including 506,000 children in Pennsylvania. It would especially help Black, Latino, and Asian children, whose parents are overrepresented in low-paying jobs due to structural barriers to opportunity. In the first year, the expansion of the child tax credit would lift 400,000 children nationwide—and roughly… Continue reading

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Statement in response to the Basic Education Funding Commission Report

  By Education, K-12 Education in PA, Penn Policy Center, Statement

The adoption of the Basic Education Funding Commission Report yesterday is a major step forward in meeting our constitutional and moral responsibility to fund education fully and fairly in Pennsylvania. The first step in this process was a Court decision by a Republican judge holding that our current system of funding education is not constitutional. Yesterday, the state took a second step. We are grateful that a majority of the Commission, including the Governor and the members of the General Assembly, provided a detailed and specific plan to meet the constitutional and moral requirement of adequately and equitably funding our schools—a plan we believe is fair. The plan comes very close to meeting our expectations. It sets a plausible and defensible standard for evaluating the adequacy of funding in every school district. By that standard, we need $5.4 billion per year in new funding to close the adequacy gap in a… Continue reading

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ITEP Report: Tax Fairness in Pennsylvania

  By Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Presentation

Every few years, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy releases its survey of taxes in the states, “Who Pays?” Click here to read the seventh edition, released on January 9, 2024.  A summary of the data for Pennsylvania is found below. This year’s report continues to tell the same story that we have seen for decades. Taxes in Pennsylvania are among the most upside-down in the entire country. The report shows that The lowest-income 20 percent of taxpayers face a state and local tax rate that is 152 percent higher than the top 1 percent of households. The average effective state and local tax rate is 15.1 percent for the lowest-income 20 percent of individuals and families, 11.4 percent for the middle 20 percent, and 6 percent for the top 1 percent. Pennsylvania has the highest tax rate on low-income families in the entire country at 15.1%. Pennsylvania has… Continue reading

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Press Release: Taxes in Pennsylvania Are Upside-Down

  By Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Statement, Taxation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 10, 2024  Contact: Kirstin Snow at Penn Policy Center snow@pennpolicy.org or Jon Whiten at ITEP jon@itep.org. RELEASE: Pennsylvania’s Tax System Exacerbates Inequality, In-Depth National Study Finds State Has the 4th-most Regressive Tax Code in the Nation Harrisburg, PA — Pennsylvania’s tax system is upside-down, with the wealthy paying a far lower share of their income to taxes than low- and middle-income families. That’s according to the latest edition of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Who Pays?, the only distributional analysis of tax systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In sharing the data, Marc Stier said, “The new report from our national partner, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, shows that Pennsylvania has one of the most upside-down state and local tax systems in the country. We should be ashamed to live in a state with the highest rate of… Continue reading

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Survey Results: Levels of Support for Higher Taxes on Profitable Corporations and Wealthy Individuals by PA House District

  By Penn Policy Center, Pennsylvania State Taxes, Poll, Taxation

In November and December of 2022, Data for Progress conducted a national survey of registered voters to gauge voter support towards state action to hold profitable corporations and the wealthy accountable to pay their fair share of taxes. The national survey was then used to estimate opinion at the state level for Pennsylvania using a machine learning model trained on nationally representative survey responses linked to a commercial voter file. In addition, estimates were made of public support in each state House and Senate district. Click here for state-wide results. Perhaps surprisingly, the differences between PA House districts held by Democratic and Republican legislators are not all that great. Registered voters in both Democratic and Republican districts overwhelmingly support tax increases on profitable corporations and wealthy individuals. The highest support percentage in Democratic districts was 92%, the lowest was 81%. The average support percentage in Democratic districts was 86%. The… Continue reading

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Pennsylvania Voters Believe Wealthy Individuals and Profitable Corporations Are Not Paying Their Fair Share

  By Blog post

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on January 4, 2024. Income and wealth are highly concentrated at the top in Pennsylvania, a situation that has worsened greatly in recent decades. Pennsylvania voters rightly believe that corporations and wealthy individuals aren’t paying their fair share to fund the government services and infrastructure we all depend on. In November and December of 2022, Data for Progress conducted a survey of registered voters nationally to gauge voter support towards state action to ensure that profitable corporations and the wealthy are paying their fair share of taxes. The national survey was then used to estimate opinion at the state level for Pennsylvania, using a machine learning model trained on nationally representative survey responses linked to a commercial voter file. There is no question that Pennsylvania’s voters are supportive of statewide policies that require those at the top to pay their fair share. Voters are looking… Continue reading

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We Can’t Fix Education By Shuffling The Deck

  By Blog post, Education, K-12 Education in PA

In February 2023, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer called for a new funding system in Pennsylvania to fulfill the state’s obligation to provide a thorough and efficient education for its children. But, opponents of increased education funding cite the state’s high per-student spending, compared to other states, as a reason not to increase our total spending on K-12 schools. The comparison to other states’ spending per student is misleading in multiple ways. To begin with, it does not consider variations in the cost of living and education expenses. Pennsylvania’s education spending per student is below the average of the 11 New England and other Mid-Atlantic states that are closest to Pennsylvania with regard to the costs of education. In addition, overall levels of funding skirt the core issue in Judge Jubelirer’s decision—that in Pennsylvania, school funding is highly inequitable from one school district to another. The evidence presented to Judge Jubelirer,… Continue reading