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Would another candidate be stronger than Biden?

  By 2024, Elections and Voting

Data for Progress–a really good pollster I’ve worked with a few times in the past–has a new poll showing that no other Democratic candidate does any better against Trump than Biden. Two important notes: 1. The undecideds go up a both D and Trump drop a bit with other candidates. Many of the alternatives to Biden are not well known. So they would have a a greater opportunity to pick up more support among undecideds than Biden does. If Democrats chose someone I think is a really good candidate, like Gretchen Witmer, I think that as she became better known (and assuming no skeletons we don’t know about) she’d win by five points, despite the handicap of being a woman. (Most sexist aren’t voting for Democrats no matter what gender they are.) 2. Trump’s support is pretty static. He tops out at 48%. That suggests that those undecideds are not… Continue reading

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The Time Is Right for PA to Finally Raise its Minimum Wage | OPINION

  By Blog post, Op-ed PPC, Penn Policy Center, Published Op-Eds

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 30, 2024. Originally published in the Pennsylvania Capital-Star By Marc Stier House Bill 1500, co-sponsored by Democratic Reps. Jason Dawkins of Philadelphia and Patty Kim of Dauphin County, would increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour over three years and then create annual increases in the future based on the cost of living. While the bill, which is now before the House Appropriations Committee, is not perfect, it would provide enormous benefits to Pennsylvania workers and Pennsylvania’s economy. The legislation has faced the usual arguments made against raising the minimum wage. But what the critics seem not to have noticed is that those arguments make little sense under current economic conditions, if they ever did. Indeed, it’s hard not to conclude that this is the best possible time to raise the minimum wage for both workers and businesses. Raising the minimum wage is almost certain… Continue reading

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What Happens If Biden Steps Down

  By 2024, Elections, Politics

I mentioned in a previous post that whether it makes sense for Biden to withdraw depends on what we think the process of replacing him will look like and who the likely candidate would be. Here are my thoughts about that first part. To begin with, the only way the nomination is opened up is if luminaries like Obama and Clymer, along with Jill Biden can convince the president to withdraw. I think that’s unlikely. If that does happen, then there is going to be a wide open process involving 6 or 7 candidates that will likely involve some debate as well as many meetings with groups of delegates over a six to eight week period. I imagine that Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Gavin Newsome, and Gretchen Witmer will run. Josh Shapiro, Cory Booker, Amy Kobuchar and Elizabeth Warren may run as well. Who knows, maybe Bernie Sanders will jump… Continue reading

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School Funding in Pennsylvania Remains Inadequate and Inequitable

  By Policy Paper

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 27, 2024. CLICK TO VIEW IN PDF READER. June 26, 2024 adequacy-and-equity-2024Download Continue reading

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Ed. Bd. Memo: A State Earned Income Tax Credit Should Be Part of a Budget Deal in 2024

  By Blog post, Editorial Board Memo, Penn Policy Center

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 27, 2024. To: Members of the General Assembly, editorial board members, and political reporters From: Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center Subject: What we are looking for in a budget agreement Date: July 1, 2024 The Pennsylvania state budget is now officially late. By all reports, however, House and Senate negotiators, as well as the governor’s office, are working diligently to reach an agreement. We are not concerned by a brief delay as we know that the issues under consideration are complex and that necessary compromises are difficult in a divided government. We do want to set out some criteria by which we will evaluate a successful compromise. Enactment of a plan to meet our constitutional and moral responsibility to fully and fairly fund our schools, along the lines proposed by the Basic Education Funding Commission and with first-year funding at the level proposed by Governor Shapiro. A limited tax cut directed toward the Pennsylvanians who most suffer from… Continue reading

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K–12 School Funding in PA Remains Inadequate and Inequitable

  By Blog post, Policy Paper

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on June 26, 2024.   VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT OR DOWNLOAD.   Loading Viewer… Continue reading

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From Work to Wealth and Back Again

  By Policy Paper

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

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Testimony to the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission

  By Blog post, Penn Policy Center, Testimony

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

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Create a State Earned Income Tax Credit in 2024!

  By Blog post

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

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Should We Cut Taxes in 2024–25, and if so—How?

  By Blog post

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