The illiberal intelligentsia is bemoaning the Trump administration’s proposal to abolish the Appalachian Regional Commission. The mission of the ARC, founded in 1965 as part of the Johnson administration’s “War on Poverty,” was to promote economic growth in more than 400 counties in 13 states.
The Beaver County Times reminds that includes 52 counties in Pennsylvania, including all counties in Southwest Pennsylvania.
Liberals tout all the “good” supposedly done by the ARC. The Center for American Progress (CAP), a “progressive” group, claims the commission has created 42,000 jobs in the Keystone State over the past 52 years, invested more than $465 million in the state and, as The Times puts it, “generated $1.5 billion in increased earnings in Pennsylvania.”
Take those numbers with a very large grain of salt.
And many of CAPs projections for current ARC-funded jobs and benefits defy (if not defile) credulity, as we’ve come to expect from such groups.
But more than a decade ago, The Associated Press put the failure of the ARC into stark perspective:
“After nearly 40 years and almost $10 billion in federal spending, only eight of the 410 counties in Appalachia are equal or better than the national average on indicators such as per-capita income, poverty and unemployment rates.”
Researchers also have criticized the “political nature” of ARC funding.
The Appalachian Regional Commission hardly is a success story. It’s a portrait of failure — billions of dollars spent with sparse results. Sadly, this is all too common for “government projects.’
Surely there are better ways to address poverty in Appalachia.
A Post-Gazette analysis of new U.S. Census Bureau numbers shows Greater Pittsburgh continues to experience more deaths than births.
That’s based on July 2016 figures showing a fourth-straight year of flagging population in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Offers the P-G: “If the region is to grow, it will take immigration from other parts of the country or from other nations to compensate for that natural shortfall.”
It also notes how public officials’ “capacity to stop residents already here from dying or coax them into abundant procreation is limited.”
Well, that’s one way to look at it. Here’s another, more rational, way:
How about re-examining, then reversing, policies that tend to make younger people seek greener pastures?
Think of taxation that remains too high.
Think of taxation that remains unconstitutionally unequal.
Think of onerous regulations that dissuade private investment.
Think of teacher strikes.
Think of government continuing to insist that it not only can but should pick economic winners with taxpayer dollars. (The record shows it can’t.)
Too often in Penn’s Wood, government is not the solution but the problem. And until our “leaders” recognize that — and until voters act accordingly — “growth” will remain a quaint notion.
An interesting measure will appear on Mt. Lebanon’s May 16 primary election ballot. Voters in the South Hills suburb will be asked to amend a home rule charter provision governing tax increases.
As Mt. Lebanon Magazine notes, “Currently, the (board of commissioners) can raise taxes by up to 2 mills without a referendum.”
But given that provision was adopted in 1977, when the property tax was based on 25 percent of the assessed value, and that since 2001 those taxes have been based on 100 percent of the assessed value, a 2-mill increase could lead to a 44 percent increase in taxes, the municipality says.
Prior to 2001, 2-mill increase generated a 10 percent increase in Mt. Lebanon property taxes.
The proposed charter amendment would replace the 2-mill cap with a millage ceiling that would generate no more than 10 percent in additional revenue over the prior year, the magazine reports.
Sounds reasonable and taxpayer-friendly, at least on the surface. After all, as the community’s finance director is quoted, “This change would allow us to go back to the original intention of the ordinance.”
But there’s an even more taxpayer-friendly solution.
First, regular reassessments by Allegheny County would ensure that properties are valued accurately.
Second, all tax increases should be put before voters. That makes it incumbent upon municipal leaders to make a cogent fiscal case to justify raising the impost.
If they can or can’t, voters will act accordingly. And that’s how it should be.
Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
