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Fiscal Year 2014 Budget

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama said that we must invest in the true engine of America’s economic growth – a rising and thriving middle class. He said that every day, we must ask ourselves these three questions: “How do we attract more jobs to our shores? How do we equip our people with the skills needed to do those jobs? And how do we make sure that hard work leads to a decent living?”

This morning the President sent Congress his Budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which presents his plan to address each of these questions. He also spoke to the press about his proposal in the Rose Garden, and said that while our economy is poised for progress, we need to get smarter about our priorities as a nation. And that’s what his 2014 Budget represents — a fiscally-responsible blueprint for middle-class jobs and growth:

To make America a magnet for good jobs, this budget invests in new manufacturing hubs to help turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. We’ll spark new American innovation and industry with cutting-edge research like the initiative I announced to map the human brain and cure disease. We’ll continue our march towards energy independence and address the threat of climate change. And our Rebuild America Partnership will attract private investment to put construction workers back on the job rebuilding our roads, our bridges and our schools, in turn attracting even more new business to communities across the country.

To help workers earn the skills they need to fill those jobs, we’ll work with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America. And we’re going to pay for it by raising taxes on tobacco products that harm our young people. It’s the right thing to do.

We’ll reform our high schools and job training programs to equip more Americans with the skills they need to compete in the 21st century economy. And we’ll help more middle-class families afford the rising cost of college.

To make sure hard work is rewarded, we’ll build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for anybody who is willing to work hard to climb them. So we’ll partner with 20 of our communities hit hardest by the recession to help them improve housing, and education, and business investment. And we should make the minimum wage a wage you can live on — because no one who works full-time should have to raise his or her family in poverty.

President Obama’s budget also replaces the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester with smarter ones, making long-term reforms, eliminating actual waste and programs that are no longer needed.

And finally, because he is willing to make tough choices and serious about finding common ground to further reduce the deficit, President Obama’s budget incorporates his compromise offer he made to House Speaker Boehner that achieves another $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction in a balanced way. When combined with the deficit reduction already achieved, this will exceed the goal of $4 trillion in deficit reduction, while growing the economy and strengthening the middle class.

Ron Paul on Why he Should be President: CNBC, Tuesday Morning 5/31

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDL0sYnhEaM&feature=player_embedded

PA Governor Ed Rendell to Suspend Laws of Economics for Three Years

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Governor calls CF’s job loss projections “ludicrous”

Commonwealth Foundation President and CEO Matthew J. Brouillette issued the following statement in response to Gov. Rendell’s critique of the Commonwealth Foundation’s economical modeling projections that Pennsylvania would have nearly 24,000 fewer jobs as a result of his proposed 16 percent hike in the state personal income tax:
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“Gov. Rendell’s critique of the Commonwealth Foundation’s projections of job losses under his proposed tax increase as ‘ludicrous’ is historically and economically ignorant.

The Governor’s campaign to raise taxes on working Pennsylvanians and small businesses ignores the basic laws of economics. By denying that citizens and businesses would respond to higher taxes, the Governor ignores the fact that people will have less money to spend, and small business owners will have fewer resources to invest in their enterprises.

What is truly ludicrous is that Gov. Rendell ignores the historical evidence that individuals and businesses respond to higher taxes by relocating to states or countries with lower tax rates. This is why Pennsylvania has been one of the largest out-migration states in the nation.

Gov. Rendell’s claim that Pennsylvania has the 2nd lowest income tax rate also distorts the facts in pursuit of his political agenda. Nine states have no income tax, or tax only dividends and interest. Most states have lower starting personal income tax rates, standard deductions, and additional tax credits or deductions. Thus, Pennsylvania ranks much higher in state income tax revenue collected per capita—28th highest, to be exact.

The Governor also conveniently ignores that Pennsylvania has local income taxes which are among the highest in the nation. In terms of state and local income taxes per person, Pennsylvania already ranks 16th highest. Most importantly, when the overall tax burden is considered—including income, corporate, sales and property taxes—Pennsylvania has the 11th highest state and local tax burden in the nation. That makes us already uncompetitive relative to other states, which is why we rank 34th in the nation in job growth under Gov. Rendell’s tenure. Raising or creating new taxes will only make things worse for Pennsylvania.”

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Thanks to The Commonwealth Foundation for this article

The Commonwealth Foundation (www.CommonwealthFoundation.org) is an independent, non-profit public policy research and educational institute based in Harrisburg, PA.