Tag: Pennsylvania economy

Republican Lawmaker Want Pennsylvania Corporate Tax Reduced Further

Bradley Vasoli

State representative Dallas Kephart (R-PA-Clearfield) wants to reduce Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax (CNIT) to four percent by 2025. 

Last year, lawmakers budgeted a gradual decrease in the CNIT from 9.99 percent to 4.99 percent over the coming decade. Before the change, the Keystone State charged corporations the highest state business tax in the U.S., behind New Jersey’s 11.5 percent rate. Now at 8.99 percent, Pennsylvania’s levy is 8.99 percent — the fifth highest. Assuming other states’ rates stay constant, Pennsylvania’s CNIT will end up roughly in the middle in terms of corporate taxes in 2031. 

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National Nonprofit Ranks Pennsylvania 46th in Economic Performance

Bradley Vasoli

According to a new analysis by the nonprofit American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), Pennsylvania ranks 46th among states for economic performance and 35th for economic outlook.

Now in its 16th edition, ALEC’s Rich States, Poor States compares states’ economic posture based on 15 policy factors. Pennsylvania’s performance only ranked ahead of West Virginia, Connecticut, Alaska and — in dead last — Louisiana. 

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Report: Pennsylvania Job Openings Continue to Fall

Bradley Vasoli

A report released Monday by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) shows that new Keystone-State employment opportunities fell in June, marking a three-month overall decline.

Examining numbers from the federal Department of Labor, the IFO found that around 393,000 new jobs opened in June. Although that number exceeds the 281,000-per-month average for job openings that preceded COVID-19 in 2020, it continues a downward slope that began after new employment offerings reached 514,000 in March.

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Survey Suggests Pennsylvanians Back Free-Market Reforms, Believe State Economy Needs Improvement

Bradley Vasoli

A new survey released Thursday by the Commonwealth Foundation (CF), a Harrisburg-based think tank, suggests Pennsylvanians broadly support free-market reforms the institute urges policymakers to embrace. 

CF publicized its Better Pennsylvania 2023 Plan, a list of 23 such recommendations, in conjunction with the poll. Executive vice president Jennifer Stefano said the foundation plans to distribute the agenda to state lawmakers and candidates for public office. She believes the ideas’ implementation will “restore hope to our citizens across the commonwealth and set us on a better path that allows all Pennsylvanians to flourish.”

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Economic Development Chief Testifies to Consequences of Pennsylvania’s Lockdown, Refuses to Apologize

Bradley Vasoli

At a Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee hearing on Thursday, the panel’s GOP majority grilled the state’s chief economic-development official on the damage inflicted by COVID-related business restrictions.

In March 17, 2020, Governor Tom Wolf (D) responded to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus by ordering the shuttering of all businesses he deemed “nonessential.” The commonwealth phased out most of the closures that summer, though capacity restrictions on restaurants and other gathering places continued into 2021. Republicans in the General Assembly attempted to end the shutdowns but did not have the two-thirds supermajority needed to override the governor.

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Pennsylvania Fiscal Office Expects Lower Revenues Than Governor

Bradley Vasoli

On Tuesday, at the first legislative hearing on Pennsylvania’s next budget, the Wolf administration and the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) offered divergent near-term revenue projections.

Governor Tom Wolf (D) proposed a Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget last week that would total $43.7 billion, 16.6 percent greater than the current fiscal year’s spending allotment. The plan’s feasibility (without a tax increase) will partly depend on whether the general-fund revenues anticipated by the governor’s Revenue Secretary, C. Daniel Hassell, come to fruition. 

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COVID Restrictions’ Impact on Pennsylvania Still Felt, Forecasted to Persist

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) on Monday issued a report on the state’s economy indicating COVID-era restrictions continue to make a negative impact.

The IFO composed the report to inform lawmakers as they begin a series of state budget hearings this week. The agency observes that the Keystone State’s labor-force-participation rate is at its lowest in 37 years and forecasts that jobs numbers won’t return to their December-2019 apex for at least another three years.

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