Bird’s-Eye View

The sound you hear is the anti-pay hike bandwagon rolling through Harrisburg. Even the top Republican state Senator and new Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati has said he will forego the scheduled 2.8 percent salary increase for all lawmakers.
But as the Philadelphia Inquirer’s political blog notes, there’s more to this:
But when it comes to his payday, he […]

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On a day when the world caught a glimpse in what could be the ugliest pay-to-play scandal in recent memory (that would be the one over there in the Land of Lincoln) and Gov. Ed Rendell says he has a plan to plug the estimated $1.6 billion budget deficit here at home, thought it would […]

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 If you’re wondering why this whole brouhaha over state lawmaker pay hikes is such a big deal, I can tell you you’re not alone. But it does have long-range consequences.
House Democratic leaders said Wednesday they’re going to pay back their scheduled salary hikes (known as a cost of living adjustment or COLA), foregoing about $2,000 a […]

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This morning’s story was about what Lancaster city doesn’t have and what Lancaster city can’t get.
While the focus of my article was on what’s called a “business privilege tax” - a levy on all money a business makes (gross receipts, no profit) - you could substitute amusement tax, drink tax, dedicated sales tax into the […]

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