Tax Day is a coming

"Over the past five years, the governor's priorities have been focused on increasing taxes, spending and borrowing," state Rep. Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, said during an afternoon press conference. "Our goal is to put money back into taxpayers' pockets and the economy. We need to refocus our spending priorities and cut taxes, which will make Pennsylvania more business friendly and create more family-sustaining jobs."

Democrats and the old bulls love taxes. Republicans should view them as a last resort.

Git me gun and the Good Book

Obama sez:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Lord forgive me my bitterness.

31.9% of what you make goes to government

The best and worst states for taxes

PA is 20th in the nation when computing combined state/federal tax burden, which factors in property, gasoline, tobacco, sales and state income taxes. I wonder where's we'd be if local and hidden taxes were included.

Understand liberals? Huh?

"It goes without saying that liberals hate free markets, big business, even democracy when the voters disagree with them. If truth be known, they hate the human race — at least the part of it that is not them. Darn those human beings for not living their lives according to the liberal prescription."-- Charley Reesesyndicated columnist

Tony P has the rest

Inquirer hates gunowners and their supporters

Remember their names

House Speaker Dennis O'Brien (R., Phila.) thumbed his nose at his city constituents Tuesday by helping to defeat a measure aimed at stemming the tide of illegal handguns. He was joined in defeating the bill requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons by eight other Republican lawmakers from the suburbs.

There ought to be a political price paid by O'Brien et al for their obstinate resistance to a gun-safety measure supported by police, prosecutors and Gov. Rendell. Voters should contact them, and remember them at the polls on Nov. 4.

Here's the "no" voters' dishonor roll: O'Brien, Stephen Barrar (R., Delaware), Paul Clymer (R., Bucks), Gene DiGirolamo (R., Bucks), Robert Godshall (R., Montgomery), Art Hershey (R., Chester), Bob Mensch (R., Montgomery), Scott Petri (R., Bucks), and Thomas J. Quigley (R., Montgomery).

I wish I could vote for them, but then I'd have to live in the city of brotherly love where the love don't shine.

Obama outspending Hillary 5 - 1

Knockout try could be risky for Obama
Barack Obama raised $40 million in March, about twice as much as Hillary Rodham Clinton raised. He’s got 30 offices in Pennsylvania; she’s got 21 offices.

He’s outspending her on Pennsylvania television by about 5-to-1. And a flood of new voter registrations in the state — thousands of which were generated by his volunteers — suggest the electorate is changing in ways that work to his benefit.

Outspending a Clinton 5 - 1 is audacious. He'd fit right in in Harrisburg with a busdget like that.

Leftover $ in Harrisburg??????????

An Open Letter to the Pennsylvania General Assembly: Return Your Surplus to Taxpayers!

Dear Legislator:

On behalf of the nearly 17,300 Pennsylvania members of the National Taxpayers Union, I urge you to support efforts to devote the General Assembly's operating fund surplus to tax relief.
For years, the Assembly has hoarded hard-earned taxpayer dollars and now there is a sizable surplus. The Legislative Audit Advisory Commission has recommended that the Assembly adopt standards for how to deal with this money. Rather than expanding government and increasing spending, the best course is to return those dollars to the folks who earned them in the first place.

At a time when our economy is slowing, Pennsylvania ought to be collecting only the revenues necessary for legitimate core functions. The operating fund from which the Assembly draws its salary and pays for other costs has taken an extra $241 million out of Pennsylvanians' pockets in recent years. That money would be better used to feed the families, fill the gas tanks, and expand the businesses upon which Pennsylvania relies so heavily.

Nonetheless, some legislators would prefer to use the money to boost spending on programs like health care. Instead of spending millions on new programs that would expand the reach of government, elected officials ought to focus on relieving the burdens of taxation. Pennsylvania has the nation’s second-highest corporate income taxes, a high sales tax, and a property tax burden that is increasingly difficult to bear for hard-working families.

Politics has trumped the interests of taxpayers for far too long. The time has come to stop using the fruits of Pennsylvania's labor as a political shield in budget battles between the legislative and executive branches. The General Assembly should resist the urge to grow government and instead devote the operating fund surplus to tax relief for Pennsylvanians suffering from a slowing economy.

Sincerely,
Andrew MoylanGovernment Affairs Manager