Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Please note that if you have received more than one copy of this email publication, wish to be removed from FCTO's email list, or add a friend, please notify FCTO at fctopresident@aol

Please note that if you have received more than one copy of this email publication, wish to be removed from FCTO's email list, or add a friend, please notify FCTO at fctopresident@aol.com . Thank you.�

From: The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

March 2, 2011

JOIN THE FEDERATION ON SAT, MARCH 19

RSVP 860-841-8032 or fctopresident@aol.com

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BREAKING NEWS:

Connecticut Public Sector Workers

Second Highest Paid in the Nation

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-01-1Apublicworkers01_ST_N.htm

Graph:� Public, private workers compensation gap

Q Poll: Public Employees Should Pay More For Benefits By

Jon Lender �March 2, 2011 By a margin of 63 percent to 31 percent, Americans think that government workers should pay more for their benefits and retirement programs, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday morning. http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2011/03/poll-government-workers-should.html

Connecticut's Union Coverage Falls Slightly In 2010 maralee@courant.com The Hartford Courant ��March 2, 2011 Union membership in Connecticut dropped by about 7,000 to 258,000 in 2010 � about 16.7 percent of employees in the state, according to a report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.courant.com/business/hc-union-membership-20110301,0,3350458.story

State Received $19.1M In Federal Funds For Early Retirees �March 2, 2011, Courant, Matthew Sturdevant Aetna, CIGNA Corp., Yale University and dozens of other employers in Connecticut received $19.1 million last year from a federal program that was part of healthcare reform and is aimed at reducing healthcare costs for early retirees. http://blogs.courant.com/connecticut_insurance/2011/03/connecticut-received-191-milli.html

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Malloy seeks authority to make emergency cuts to local aid http://ctmirror.org/story/11644/malloy-wants-authority-cut-town-aid-if-necessary

Malloy legislative appointees get big pension boost

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Governor Malloy�s Many Tax Hikes from the Yankee Institute

http://www.yankeeinstitute.org/2011/02/gov-malloys-twenty-one-tax-increases/

TAXES, TAXES, AND MORE TAXES http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=20

From the Federation:� The Only Solution to Connecticut�s High Taxes is an End to Collective Bargaining. According to the Tax Foundation, Tax Freedom Day is the day when Americans finally have earned enough money to pay off their total tax bill for the year. Connecticut taxpayers worked to April 27, 2010, the longest in the nation. http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/17.html.�

The Federation is in the process of obtaining updated state pay and pension information. In the interim, you may find the following of interest�.

� CONNECTICUT DEBT - 72 BILLION DOLLARS

� Review Teacher and Administrator Pensions

� Top 50 Base Pay vs Actual Pay

� WHAT THEY EARN: 2009 Connecticut State Employee Pay Rates (1,244 pages, searchable by name)

� LIST OF STATE RETIREE PENSIONS�

� http://www.brainflation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/StatePensions.xls

� LIST OF TEACHER/ADMINISTRATOR PENSIONS http://www.brainflation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/TEACHERRetireePensions.xls

� Visit the Yankee Institute for More Information on State and Local Spending on Public Employee Salaries, etc.�� http://ctsunlight.org/

� State Employee Unions Should Not Expect More From Taxpayers

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The Day of New London publishes Transcript of the chat with Malloy administration's budget chief Ben Barnes http://www.theday.com/article/20110223/INTERACT03/110229842

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From Taxpayers United of America, 407 S. Dearborn Street, Suite 1170 * Chicago, Illinois 60605-1150, (312) 427-5128 * Fax (312) 427-5139 * Website www.ntui.org * E-mail tua@NTUI.org� Contact: Jim Tobin (773) 354-2076

Wisconsin Taxpayers Demand Tax Relief and Reforms� MADISON- �Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker�s bill to reduce collective bargaining privileges for many government employees recently passed in the House and is a bold step in the right direction as it would provide much-needed property tax relief for the oppressed taxpayers of Wisconsin,� said Jim Tobin, President of Taxpayers United of America (TUA), at a press conference at the State Capitol Monday. �In 2009, according to a new study released by the Tax Foundation, Wisconsin�s State-Local tax burden rose to 11.0 %, and Wisconsin went from the sixth to the fourth-highest state in the nation,� said Tobin. �Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has taken a courageous stand by working to break the stranglehold the government-employee unions have on the state treasury and local taxpayers: up to 80% of taxes can go to fund salaries, pensions, and benefits of government employees.� Christina Tobin, President of The Free and Equal Elections Foundation and Vice-President of TUA said the best way to rectify this problem is to elect fiscally responsible political leaders. �Unfortunately, most politicians and union bosses think the money they spend is their own. Losing 6,000 jobs as an alternative to limiting collective bargaining hurts the people. �The voice of the people is being muted by the public unions and the corporate interests that have a stranglehold on our electoral system. It�s high time that �we the people� take back what is rightfully ours. Governor Walker has stepped up to the plate. It�s time for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to get off the bench and do the same.�

To view the video of the press conference, click here.

WisPolitics: Walker's budget to include property tax cap along with cuts to education, local government 3/1/2011 �Gov. Scott Walker today will call for big cuts in state aids to schools, local governments and the UW System and a tight cap on property taxes as part of his plan to balance a $3.6 billion budget shortfall, sources tell WisPolitics.com. �Walker won't call for any tax increases, fee hikes or fund transfers, according to sources with knowledge of the proposal. He also won't propose repealing combined reporting, but will call for allowing companies to claim a portion of what they pay through the tax as a future credit. And he won't peel back the new tax bracket Dem Gov. Jim Doyle and a Dem-run Legislature created in the 2009-11 budget for the state�s top earners. http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=228487

Gov. Scott Walker's Secret Weapon: From The Atlantic, Feb 28, 2011� ��.A deal floated by moderate Republican state Sen. Dale Schultz, under which collective bargaining rights would automatically reactivate in 2013, seems to have drawn no interest from either side. One possible reason: the Wisconsin veto makes such a compromise impossible to enforce.� What most people outside Wisconsin don't know is that our governor wields a veto power on appropriations bills so strong as to be frankly comic. It's not just a line-item veto; Walker has the power to veto individual phrases and words (PDF) -- like "not" -- from sentences. If the state Senate returns to session and passes a bill with time limits on Walker's favored provisions, he can strip out the new language and sign his own decompromised version into law. If that sounds crazy, keep in mind that until 2008 governors of Wisconsin could -- and did! -- veto multi-page sections of bills, leaving in place only eight or nine words spelling out a law the governor wanted to enact. And that, in turn, was a much-narrowed version of the so-called "Vanna White veto" power enjoyed by Wisconsin governors prior to 1990, when they could veto individual letters out of words and individual digits out of numbers.� Complete report at �http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/02/gov-scott-walkers-secret-weapon-the-wisconsin-veto/71816/

Where Will New Revenues for Deficit Reduction Come From?

Howard Gleckman | February 17, 2011 http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2011/02/17/where-will-new-revenues-for-deficit-reduction-come-from/

In-State Tuition for Illegal Aliens Headed to Debate As Connecticut legislators consider a proposed bill, the fight over the nation's immigration policies emerges.� The college quadrangle could be the next immigration battleground.

State Sens. Martin Looney and Edith Prague, both Democrats, co-sponsored bill number S.B. 40, which would allow children of undocumented immigrant aliens to qualify for in-state tuition.� http://darien.patch.com/articles/in-state-tuition-for-illegal-aliens?ncid=M255

Dodd takes job as CEO of Hollywood trade group By Deirdre Shesgreen on March 1, 2011 WASHINGTON--Former Sen. Chris Dodd has officially been tapped as the next chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, making him the face of Hollywood in Washington.