Category: About me

No comments

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

No comments

Which Door Will the Taxman Knock On?

  By Pennsylvania State Taxes, Published op-eds

Originally published in the Allentown Morning Call, February 6, 2016 If we in Pennsylvania are to avoid another billion-dollar cut in education spending plus a billion-dollar cut in spending on health care and human services, the taxman is going to have to knock on someone’s door. It’s time the knock comes on the doors of corporations and the wealthy, not those of the middle class and working people. The state’s Independent Fiscal Office recently projected that if no changes were made to current policy and taxes, the state of Pennsylvania would run a deficit of $318 million during the current year. That deficit would rise to $1.8 billion or more in the fiscal year beginning July 1. And that is the deficit before any new spending. If Gov. Wolf and the General Assembly reach an agreement on education spending, but not on how to raise the revenue to pay for… Continue reading

No comments

On PA Budget: “Declare Victory” and Go Home

  By Budget, PA Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Budget, Public Policy, Published op-eds

Originally published in NewsWorks, February 5, 2016 In 1966, Senator George Aiken returned from a trip from Vietnam with the recommendation that the United States “declare victory and bring the troops home.” It wasn’t entirely clear that the U.S. had won the war at that point, but we also hadn’t yet lost the war (as we would after another eight years of suffering and death). It’s a very different context, but I’m inclined to give the General Assembly similar advice: Finish the work on the bipartisan budget, declare victory, and go home. Last year, an appropriations bill that implements the bipartisan budget framework, SB1073, passed the Senate by an overwhelming vote of 43-7. It was one roll call vote short of passing the House in December, having already been approved by a narrow, yet bipartisan, majority on second reading. The General Assembly should return to that bipartisan approach now and then… Continue reading

No comments

Shopping

  By Family Stories

My wife and I have two totally different approaches to food shopping. I make a list, go in and get what’s on the list, and am out of the coop in no more than 15 minutes. She has a list, too. But then she looks at what else is on the shelves. She compares products. She seeks out new products. She asks when something is not on the shelves. She consults with the staff about products and their alternatives. She shops as if she were in a hardware store! Continue reading

22 Comments

Youth is Not Wasted on the Young

  By A political memoir, About me

I’ve been organizing my personal files, paper and electronic, and just rediscovered this piece. I wrote June 9, 2006 pretty soon after I started my blog. I didn’t post it because a young friend of mine who knew I was thinking about running for office talked me out of doing so. She was a little worried that it wasn’t serious enough and the Viagra joke bothered her. But having reread it–and being 6 years older and coming off of major surgery– I still like what it says about the importance of cross-generational collaboration and about the pleasures and pains of aging. And while I’ve lost touch with some of the young people I was working with in 2006, many of them are still friends and allies, and others have been replaced, in some cases by younger versions of themselves. Staying engaged with young people is still important to my life as a health appreciation for the knowledge and occasional wisdom that comes with age. Continue reading

No comments

What Do Do-Nothing Legislators Do?

  By A political memoir, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Political Organizing, Politics, Progressive Politics

There is a class of legislators who pundits sometime pick on for not being “effective.” They are politicians who typically stand a little to the left (for Democrats) or right (for Republicans) of their party. Then tend to come from relatively well-off, safe districts. Their constituents are more ideological than most and less in need of the pork barrel projects that are the stock in trade of other legislators. And they often serve in the minority party in the legislature, so they have little impact day to day legislative business. That gives them some freedom to push the envelope on policy by taking stands in advance of public opinion. Sometimes they push the envelope simply by being who they are—a woman, an out gay or lesbian, or the member of some other minority. These politicians are often criticized because they don’t have a lot of legislative achievements. They don’t have… Continue reading

One Comment

Stacie Ritter, Obamacare, and Me

  By About me, Health Care, Progressive Politics

This is a story mostly about what Obamacare means to my colleague and friend Stacie Ritter. But is not just a story about a woman whose family has and will continue to benefit from the Affordable Care Act. It’s also about how the struggle for health care for her family has changed Stacie and made her into one of the most important health care activists in Pennsylvania and in the country as a whole. And it’s also a story about me, because in my four years of work as a health care activist and as Director of Health Care for American Now in Pennsylvania no one has inspired me more than Stacie. Meeting Stacie Ritter I met Stacie almost by chance in early September 2009. She was scheduled to speak in support of health care reform in Carlisle, Pennsylvania at an event organized by the premier labor and progressive radio… Continue reading

No comments

Lost and Found at the Polo Grounds

Image

  By About me, Family Stories, Sports

The Times has a nice story about the early Mets today. And it’s especially nice for me on the first anniversary of my father’s death. One of my earliest memories is him taking me to the Polo Grounds in 1962 or 1963. I don’t remember much about the game except the great name of the Mets’ catcher, Choo-Choo Coleman. And I remember how green everything seemed to be from the stands to the field.

And there was a brief moment—probably no more than ten seconds that felt like ten hours to me—when we got separated in the crowd after the game. I’ll never forget the enormous relief I felt when he grabbed my hand and I looked up to see him.

He could always make me feel safe. And that’s perhaps the most important thing any parent can do for their child.

No comments

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-02-19

  By Twitter feed

I'm at World Cafe Live (3025 Walnut St, Philadelphia) w/ 5 others http://t.co/U7bTNinx # Suppose a Catholic business person confesses to voluntarily providing insurance for contraception. What would the penance be? # Has a Catholic business person ever been called out by the church for voluntarily providing insurace for contraception? # Continue reading