A few curious and troubling juxtapositions to consider:
The Pittsburgh Promise was established 11 years ago this December. The college scholarship program was, as the Post-Gazette recounts, “touted as a way to boost the performance of the city schools, help students achieve their dreams, attract families to Pittsburgh and keep those already here.”
But as the Allegheny Institute has documented time and time again, it has done little to boost school performance or attract families to the city. In fact, Pittsburgh Public Schools are a systemic failure. And qualification criteria for the scholarships – primarily low average grades –debase the word “scholarship.”
It was three years ago this month, in a Tribune-Review op-ed, that think tank president Jake Haulk couldn’t have been more succinct in what ails the Pittsburgh Promise:
“(G)iving scholarships to so many who by almost every measure are not prepared to do college-level work leads to high failure and dropout rates, and that means large amounts of Promise funds are being wasted.”
The P-G recently offered that “The Pittsburgh Promise has become a symbol of a progressive city.”
Well, yes it has. But that’s hardly a positive thing.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that OneJet will establish a second operating base at Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport. But it’s unclear whether taxpayers there, as they did in Pittsburgh, paid a premium for the “privilege.”
You may recall that OneJet received county and state grants and loans — better known as taxpayer money – totaling $3 million. The Tribune-Review quoted Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis as saying the “incentive offer” was created to entice OneJet “to base (its) operations (at Pittsburgh International Airport) and to grow here faster that (it) would in any other market.”
Now, OneJet is establishing another base in Milwaukee. But it says “Pittsburgh remains by far our largest operating base.”
The Journal-Sentinel says “an investment from a group led by former Midwest Airlines CEO Timothy Hoeksema” helped seal the Milwaukee deal. But it’s unclear if any taxpayer dollars were thrown into the kitty.
If not, that certainly raises questions about the use of public dollars in Pittsburgh in an attempt to make OneJet a “winner.”
Never mind that it’s clearly a violation of Article VIII, Section 8, of the Pennsylvania Constitution which prohibits the lending of the commonwealth’s credit to any individual, company corporation of association.
The Associated Press reports that Pennsylvania’s hotel tax rate would nearly double and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh would have the nation’s two highest combined state and city hotel taxes under a state House proposal to help close the Keystone State’s projected $2.2 billion budget hole.
The hotel tax in Pittsburgh would rise to an astonishing 19 percent; Philadelphia’s would be even higher at 20.5 percent.
The AP says the hotel tax would be buried in hundreds of pages of legislation and was negotiated in secret. Of course.
At least one lawmaker pooh-poohed any negatives from such tax hikes – a 5 percentage point hike for Pennsylvania’s two largest cities.
“I’m sure tourists will continue to come to Pennsylvania, and we need revenue,” said House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, an Allegheny County Democrat.
Taxes have no consequences? Hardly. It remains axiomatic – the more you tax something, the less you get of it.
Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
