Policy Research

Policy Research
		Reforming Pennsylvania’s Property Taxes: An Analysis of the Economic Impacts of Shifting from the Real Property Tax to a Sales Tax to Fund Education. Martin Shields, James S. Shortle, Timothy W. Kelsey and Jeong Hwan Bae. Many Pennsylvanians are concerned about how recent increases in local property taxes will impact their well-being and the state economy. While two recent laws have given school districts and local governments the opportunity to change the tax burden, neither has found widespread support. One alternative proposal lawmakers are now considering calls for the state to eliminate the local real property tax for education, replacing it with revenues generated through expanded sales taxes. In this brief we examine the implications of such a proposal on Pennsylvania businesses and households. Press Release Research Brief: Reforming Pennsylvania’s Property Taxes: An Analysis of the Economic Impacts of Shifting from the Real Property Tax to a Sales Tax to Fund Education Full Study: Economic Effects of Pennsylvania's Current System of Local Taxation upon Current and Future Viability of Pennsylvania Agriculture. Research report submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

		Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty, Stephan Goetz and Hema Swaminathan. Counties that gained a Wal-Mart™ store experienced smaller reductions in family poverty rates during the 1990s than did counties not gaining a Wal-Mart store. That is the central finding of a new study examining the effect of the chain on county poverty rates. This result holds after other factors affecting changes in poverty over time are accounted for, including initial poverty and whether the county already had a Wal-Mart at the beginning of the decade. Press Release Research Brief Full Study