Rendell Gets an 'F'
The illustrious governor of our fine state of Pennsylvania gets flunked on his economic report card from the Cato Institute
key points from the Policy Analysis (although CATO probably ain't too fond of me quoting them, since it's pdf'd to discourage cut and paste - tough)
Edward Rendell's low tax grade is a result of his stubborn insistence on raising taxes. After vetoing a budget that balanced the state's books without raising taxes, Rendell lobbied for a 33 percent hike in the income tax, an increase in the beer tax, and a new tax on cell phones. Even though his plan included some property tax relief, it still would have resluted in a net tax increase of $1 Billion
followed by these later on:
Job growth averaged 25 percent in the top 10 tax-cutting states ... the top ten tax-hiking states experienced employment growth of just under 18 percent.
tax-cutting states saw personal income grow more than 5 percentage points faster than the national average, while the tax hiking states saw below-average personal income growth
and, perhaps most importantly here in the population-hemorraging city of Philadelphia
Citizens voted with their feet and migrated to the tax-cutting states in great numbers. Population growth averaged 17.5 percent in tax-cutting states but only 14.4 percent in the tax-hiking states. Again, growth in this variable outstripped the national average in tax cutting states.
And the good news doesn't end there. No siree.
As PoliticsPA points out:
The deplorable ‘F’ rating from the Cato Institute follows on the heels of other independent reports that paint a dismal economic picture in the Keystone State. A recent Forbes Magazine survey ranked Pennsylvania 45th in their Economic Freedom Index, which measures job growth, cost of living and quality of life. Labor reports indicate consistent job loss during Gov. Rendell’s tenure in the state’s once proud manufacturing industry. Moreover, the non-partisan Commonwealth Foundation recently reported that Pennsylvanians pay over $800 more to fund government operations since Gov. Rendell took office just over 2 years ago.
$800 per year per person. I think I'm gonna put up my "88 for Gov." lawn sign right now.
key points from the Policy Analysis (although CATO probably ain't too fond of me quoting them, since it's pdf'd to discourage cut and paste - tough)
Edward Rendell's low tax grade is a result of his stubborn insistence on raising taxes. After vetoing a budget that balanced the state's books without raising taxes, Rendell lobbied for a 33 percent hike in the income tax, an increase in the beer tax, and a new tax on cell phones. Even though his plan included some property tax relief, it still would have resluted in a net tax increase of $1 Billion
followed by these later on:
Job growth averaged 25 percent in the top 10 tax-cutting states ... the top ten tax-hiking states experienced employment growth of just under 18 percent.
tax-cutting states saw personal income grow more than 5 percentage points faster than the national average, while the tax hiking states saw below-average personal income growth
and, perhaps most importantly here in the population-hemorraging city of Philadelphia
Citizens voted with their feet and migrated to the tax-cutting states in great numbers. Population growth averaged 17.5 percent in tax-cutting states but only 14.4 percent in the tax-hiking states. Again, growth in this variable outstripped the national average in tax cutting states.
And the good news doesn't end there. No siree.
As PoliticsPA points out:
The deplorable ‘F’ rating from the Cato Institute follows on the heels of other independent reports that paint a dismal economic picture in the Keystone State. A recent Forbes Magazine survey ranked Pennsylvania 45th in their Economic Freedom Index, which measures job growth, cost of living and quality of life. Labor reports indicate consistent job loss during Gov. Rendell’s tenure in the state’s once proud manufacturing industry. Moreover, the non-partisan Commonwealth Foundation recently reported that Pennsylvanians pay over $800 more to fund government operations since Gov. Rendell took office just over 2 years ago.
$800 per year per person. I think I'm gonna put up my "88 for Gov." lawn sign right now.
posted by soulpole66 at 11:35 PM
2 Comments:
Yo! Found you via Marjo Moore's blog.
I live near St. Joe's campus.
BTW - yeah, I'm kinda embarrassed about Rendell, too.
How could you "Suddenly" find $412M in transit funds that you "overlooked?"
I guess if the paperwork were sitting under a Wawa hoagie, he would've found it!
;-)
How could you "Suddenly" find $412M in transit funds that you "overlooked?"It's the same strategy used by the homeless guy at 16th and Chestnut. When he's got that Dunkin' Donuts cup held out, jingling all 94 cents that's in there, he ain't gonna whip out the C-Bill in his back pocket and wave it in your face.
Thanks for stopping by. Consider yourself blogrolled.
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