Month: July 2021

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Statement on Need to Pivot to Reinvestment in Wake of Consolidation of PASSHE Schools

  By Higher Education, PA Budget and Policy Center, Statements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 21, 2021 Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennbpc.org Statement on need to pivot to reinvestment in wake of consolidation of PASSHE schools By Marc Stier The decision by the PASSHE board of governors to adopt a radical consolidation plan is disappointing and may ultimately be self-defeating. It accommodates, and perpetuates, a failed 40-year disinvestment in public higher education in Pennsylvania. This disinvestment threatens opportunity for many Pennsylvanians and will weaken the state’s future economy, especially in the regions anchored by PASSHE campuses. To avoid these consequences, state lawmakers need to pivot now to a reinvestment strategy, capitalizing on the federal resources in the American Rescue Plan and likely to be part of federal infrastructure legislation. Higher education remains a critical path to both individual and communal success and happiness. Yet devastating cutbacks in state funding have made the cost of attending four-year state universities, relative to median income,… Continue reading

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On Juneteenth: White Supremacy Survives in Pennsylvania

  By Pennsylvania, White Supremacy and Structural Racism

Juneteenth, the newest federal holiday, is a day to remember. It’s a day to remember the end of slavery in the United States. It’s a day to remember the stain of the enslavement of Black people in the United States. And it should also be a day to remember that we haven’t overcome the white supremacy that was an integral part of slavery; that was maintained by segregation, the terror of lynchings, and the all too frequent destruction of middle-class Black communities; and that is found in too many of our public policies. Pennsylvania officially recognized Juneteenth in 2019, proclaiming it a state holiday, but those anti-Black policies continue in Harrisburg today. Here are three examples: First: The Federal CARES Act gave states funds to provide emergency rental assistance. Our recent report shows that counties with a higher percentage of Black people were severely shortchanged in the distribution of those… Continue reading

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Blockbuster Investigation on Tax Avoidance Shows Clear Need for Bold Federal Tax Changes 

  By Billionaire tax, Erica Freeman, Federal Taxes, Other authors, Taxation

By Erica Freeman Last month’s ProPublica revelations identified what many experts, some lawmakers, and a majority of Americans already knew about the U.S. tax code: Policymakers over the past several decades have created a system that allows some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals to pay little or no federal income tax each year.   Ongoing negotiations over the next round of recovery legislation give Congress an opportunity to reverse course by closing loopholes and rolling back tax cuts for those at the top, thereby raising the revenue needed to strengthen the nation’s infrastructure and respond to economic and racial inequalities, according to a new report from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities.  Improving and expanding the taxation of wealth will bring more balance to the country’s tax code and raise the revenue we need to invest in a recovery that helps Pennsylvania and other states build a better future and an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy. Pennsylvania families contribute to… Continue reading

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Small Businesses and Workers Still Need Help

  By Economic Development, PA Economy, Policy briefs, Small / Local Business

By Maisum Murtaza, Claire Kovach, Stephen Herzenberg and Marc Stier state budget enacted in late June has two glaring and interrelated missing pieces: it provides little support for the small businesses and for the working people of Pennsylvania who are still suffering from the impact of the pandemic. Small businesses are still hurting. Fifteen months after the beginning of the pandemic, small business revenue in Pennsylvania is still down 28% relative to pre-COVID levels. It has continued to decline in the last two months. As of June 21st, the number of open small businesses in Pennsylvania was down compared to the start of 2020 by about 37%. The last two months have seen a decline of roughly 10 percentage points. Workers are still hurting, too. As of May 2021, Pennsylvania is still more than 400,000 jobs short of the level in February 2020 The unemployment rate has remained around 7%… Continue reading

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Senator Mastriano’s Proposed Election Inquisition

  By Elections and Voting, PA Budget and Policy Center, Statements

There is no evidence to suggest any serious flaws in the 2020 election process—the results have been thoroughly scrutinized. Senator Douglas Mastriano’s ongoing efforts to suggest otherwise are like ghost stories, intended to make people uneasy or frightened. The inquiry Senator Mastriano proposes would be enormously costly and a logistical nightmare to manage. He is asking Pennsylvania counties for so much material that it is hard to imagine how it would be transported to Harrisburg, where it would be stored, where the many staff members needed to review it would be found or paid for, or how the counties would run their next election this fall without the machines on which people vote and which count their votes. This inquiry is being proposed by someone whose own involvement in undermining a free and fair election is clear. Investigations regarding the January 6th insurrection are ongoing and should include Senator Mastriano’s… Continue reading