Defending the Pittsburgh area taxpayers and businesses against the burdensome taxation and regulation of Big Government

A year ago, Allegheny Institute Policy Brief Vol. 25, No. 22, noted the decline in passengers at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) from May 2024 to May 2025. It also suggested that the passenger count in the following months of 2025 would likely reflect a slowing for the same period of 2024 because of the heavy subsidy to Frontier Airlines during those 2024 months. That Brief also noted that extreme weakness in private-sector job gains in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was, and would likely continue to be, a contributing factor to the very slow growth in passengers at PIT.

Indeed, monthly passenger counts in 2026 have struggled to match 2025 levels.  For example, April’s 799,967 total fell behind the April 2025 tally of 818,558.  And the May 2026 preliminary reading of 874,000 trailed the May 2025 posting of 887,304.

Summary: With the state budget deadline on the horizon, the House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would expand the commonwealth’s gross receipts tax (GRT) to encompass digital advertising revenue. The proceeds of the tax would fund additional school property tax relief for seniors.