Would you give 74 cents or $74 to keep Rendell from raising taxes on 74 items?

You gotta hand it to the folks at the Commonwealth Foundation for the cleverness of their latest appeal for donations.

"I ask that you let Gov. Rendell know what you think of his plan for 74 new taxes by sending a contribution of $0.74 to $74 to his biggest adversary - the Commonwealth Foundation," writes Matthew J. Brouillette, President & CEO of the independent, non-profit research and educational institute that develops and advances public policies based on the nation's founding principles of limited government, economic freedom, and personal responsibility.

From Brouillette's appeal:

Harrisburg just doesn't get it. Governor Rendell is pushing for 74 new taxes to feed his endless appetite for your money. No, that's not a typographical error: 74 new taxes!

Here are just some of the 74 items Rendell now wants to place a 4% Sales Tax upon: basic television, candy and gum, caskets and burial vaults, coal, firewood, bank fees, non-prescription drugs, water and sewage supplies, school buses, and laundry and dry-cleaning services. The list goes on and on.

With a straight face, Governor Rendell claims his state budget proposal includes no broad-based tax increases. In fact, however, Rendell's plan contains even more than 74 new taxes!

Rendell also wants to "adjust" the corporate tax code, extracting more money from small businesses. Job creators will respond by laying off workers and passing their heavier tax burden onto consumers through raising the price of goods and services.

It's as if Governor Rendell is trying to destroy job growth in our Commonwealth and prevent people from making ends meet.

Governor Rendell's 74 new taxes will result in a net tax increase on all Pennsylvanians of $530 million next year and $900 million every year thereafter. With PA in the throes of recession, hard-working Pennsylvanians certainly can't afford to feed Harrisburg's spending addiction!

If you want to contribute to the Commonwealth Foundation, here's how to do it online.

Originally posted at TONY PHYRILLAS