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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
Conn. insurance rate hikes
prompt outcry amid politically charged backdrop
- The state's medical society and attorney general as well as a member of the Obama administration voice disapproval of a WellPoint subsidiary's 47% increase.http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/11/01/bisb1101.htm
Additional
Information on Healthcare is Provided Below
***********************
Rell to ReleaseState Biennial Budget on Nov.
15, 2010
Here is what to look for!
How $540 Million ($270 Million/Year) for Education
Funding Will be Addressed within the Budget.$540 million reflects what the State has received in the past two years
in Stimulus funding.This money has been
forwarded to the Towns for education.That funding is no longer available.As the State faces a $3+ billion deficit,
will the State include $540 million in its budget and forward the money to the
towns, or will town
officials increase local property taxes?
************************
CONNECTICUT TAXPAYERS ARE
TAXED TO THE MAX!
SUMMARY OF STATE REVENUES BY FUND, TAX TYPE AND ACCOUNT FOR THE
FISCAL YEARS 2007 – 2010
Prepared by
Robert Young, Secretary,
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
STATE REVENUES
FY 2007-2008
FY 2008-2009
FY 2009-2010
Personal Income Tax
7,512,688,283.97
6,385,856,437.34
6,586,098,744.72
Sales and Use Tax
3,582,316,851.96
3,318,752,207.10
3,203,987,560.88
Corporate Tax
733,941,983.64
615,920,501.40
667,132,486.24
Public Service Corp. Tax
237,112,561.53
268,494,765.26
267,945,828.34
Inheritance & Estate Tax
170,618,814.01
238,336,664.40
177,600,970.01
Insurance Co. Tax
227,220,954.45
202,217,263.61
226,549,565.36
Cigarette Tax
335,196,664.84
317,774,452.53
387,435,034.20
Real Estate Tax
158,544,197.49
90,802,186.34
100,267,098.66
Petroleum Co. Tax
333,283,239.58
246,313,157.20
264,917,722.75
Alcoholic Beverage Tax
47,077,475.14
47,064,447.58
48,196,427.44
Amusement Tax
37,276,885.78
36,040,020.40
34,379,169.45
Miscellaneous Tax
139,979,799.20
143,304,957.88
138,999,907.38
Refund of Tax
(859,183,335.21)
(1,058,371,073.16)
(1,068,748,229.47)
R & D Credit Exchange
(11,362,506.74)
(8,428,079.14)
(8,936,647.63)
Transfer Special Revenue
287,603,606.89
287,195,242.81
289,313,773.54
Casino Gaming Payments
411,409,920.00
377,804,963.34
384,247,531.77
Licenses, Permits & Fees
323,434,156.34
305,128,457.37
389,364,403.37
Sales Commodities & Services
30,066,553.05
32,535,999.02
33,694,169.92
Rents, Fines & Escheats
59,117,352.01
63,760,343.74
252,960,611.47
Investment Income
100,498,044.23
34,388,995.33
10,743,531.93
Miscellaneous Revenue
139,381,059.04
164,987,568.54
154,313,182.13
Refund of Payments
(3,220,301.08)
(3,096,150.97)
(4,094,725.41)
Federal Grants
2,698,396,709.86
3,622,963,145.99
4,047,622,239.19
Transfers from Others
115,300,000.00
115,800,000.00
102,898,481.90
Transfers to Others
(92,800,000.00)
(92,800,000.00)
(68,300,000.00)
Unknown
812,101.77
5,146.40
2,928,070.66
Motor Fuels Tax
492,122,767.70
492,024,643.60
503,635,414.18
Motor Vehicle Receipts
225,524,481.80
220,780,734.46
220,703,127.49
Motor Vehicle Sales Tax
64,863,384.46
57,133,714.34
67,784,154.51
Grand Total Revenues
17,497,221,705.71
16,522,690,712.71
17,413,639,604.98
*******************************
More federal workers' pay
tops $150,000 By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY Nov 10, 2010 The number
of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the
past five years and doubled since President Obama
took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds. The fast-growing pay of federal
employees has captured the attention of fiscally conservative Republicans who
won control of the U.S. House of Representatives in last week's
elections. Already, some lawmakers are planning to use the lame-duck session
that starts Monday to challenge the president's plan to give a 1.4%
across-the-board pay raise to 2.1 million federal workers. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-10-1Afedpay10_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
States' bailout: Largest 15
states spend over 220 percent of tax revenueThe federal
government is quietly bailing out states whose tax revenues don't match state
expenditures. Funding for this will run out in June 2011. What then?By Rocky Vega, November 8, 2010 The big news this week in terms of ginormous government transfer payments is, as usual, out of
the Fed, as it embarks on an equally ambitious and ill-fated mission to buy
$600 billion of US Treasury debt. Unsurprisingly, it’s not the only immense
transfer of wealth taking place between governmental bodies. As spotlighted by
Meredith Whitney, CEO of the Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, the feds are continuing to subtly bailout state governments at
record levels and in an ongoing and
unsustainable fashion which she describes in a recent WSJ opinion piece…… From
The Wall Street Journal:
“What [...] investors fail to appreciate is that state
bailouts have already begun. Over 20% of California’s
debt issuance during 2009 and over 30% of its debt issuance in 2010 to date has
been subsidized by the federal government in a program known as Build America
Bonds. Under the program, the U.S.
Treasury covers 35% of the interest paid by the bonds. Arguably, without this
program the interest cost of bonds for some states would have reached
prohibitive levels. California is not alone:
Over 30% of Illinois’s debt and over 40% of Nevada’s debt issued
since 2009 has also been subsidized with these bonds. These states might have
already reached some type of tipping point had the federal program not been in
place. Continued athttp://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Daily-Reckoning/2010/1108/States-bailout-Largest-15-states-spend-over-220-percent-of-tax-revenue
*******************************
Federal workers' sacrifice
would help U.S. debt, deficit panel says By Joe Davidson
Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday,
November 10, 2010; Federal employees would play a major role in reducing the
nation's debt and deficit under a set of draft proposals released Wednesday by
the co-chairs of President Obama's deficit commission. Federal
workers would face a freeze on "federal salaries, bonuses, and other
compensation at non-Defense agencies for three years," saving $15.1
billion. Pentagon civilians would take the same hit, for a $5.3 billion
savings. The federal workforce would be cut by 10 percent, about 200,000
people, by hiring only two workers for every three who leave federal service.
That would save $13.2 billion. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2010/11/10/ST2010111004105.html?sid=ST2010111004105
School systems girding for
hard budget times Fiscal pressures push districts toward regional cooperation By Robert A. Frahm Ctmirror.org NORWICH - When this cash-strapped town closed
its schools for spring vacation last April, it still had to pay to keep school
buses rolling. The school district continued operating buses for students
attending programs outside the district, including a New London magnet school and state-run
technical and agricultural high schools. The cost of running the buses that
week, about $20,000, could have been saved if all of the schools had been on
the same vacation schedule, officials saidThis week,
the Norwich Board of Education is expected to vote to join other districts in
adopting a common school calendar to avoid such conflicts, hoping eventually to
coordinate schedules with more than two dozen school systems in the region. Pressured
by Connecticut's
mounting fiscal crisis, school districts are warming to the idea of working
together to hold down costs - a sharp break from the longstanding Yankee
tradition of local control and immutable district boundary lines. Continued athttp://www.ctmirror.org/story/8291/budget-pressure-pushes-schools-regional-cooperation
Slicing a smaller pie: Educators consider how to share
reduced funding By Jacqueline Rabe Governor-elect Dan Malloy may have promised not to cut state aid
for schools, but state education leaders aren't taking that for granted:
They're scrambling to form a plan for dealing with a major loss of funding. For
the current school year, state lawmakers capped school aid at $1.9 billion, but
$270 million of that was paid for with one-time federal stimulus money.
Education leaders are not confident the state will be able to afford to fill
that $270 million gap, which amounts to 14 percent of state aid for schools, in
the face of a $3.3 billion deficit. So a
panel of education leaders -- including teachers unions, the superintendents
association, the state board of education members and Education Commissioner
Mark McQuillan -- are weighing the options. Continued
athttp://www.ctmirror.org/story/8399/state-funding-schools
Earmarks debate unites partiesRepublicans,
tea partyers, and the president agreed this week on
one pointCongress.orgWashington is coming together behind a
common enemy: earmarks.Tea-party
leaders, President BarackObama,
and top Republicans have all said this week that they would like to ban the
practice that runs rampant on both sides of the aisle in Congress."My understanding is Eric Cantor today
said that he wanted to see a moratorium on earmarks continuing. That's
something I think we can work on together," Obama
said Wednesday.But the ban faces opposition from the
top Republican in the Senate, who said it could give Obama
more power. http://www.congress.org/news/2010/11/05/earmarks_debate_unites_parties
The HEALTHCARE DEBATE
has been fueled with passion by both those who support a reformed national healthcare
policy and those who are opposed.
Relevant to the
debate should be what taxpayers on a local, state and national level are
currently paying for government subsidized healthcare as costs continue to
escalate.
In 2009, the
Federation reported thatConnecticut
state taxpayers are paying over $5 billion to provide healthcare to prisoners,
state employees, state retirees, Medicaid recipients, and others as the
following chart illustrates.
Also in 2009,the State’s
Insurance Department ruled on Anthem’s rate proposal request for an increase of
22% to 30%.
On July 8, 2009 newspapers reported that State Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal had joined with others to protest the request of
AnthemBlue Cross and Blue Shield of
Connecticut to the State Insurance Department for a 22%to 30% percent rate increase which would
impact 55,000 Connecticut residents.Blumenthal not only denounced the size of the increase but stated
“Equally unconscionable is (the) proposed effective date of Oct. 1, giving
consumers less than three months to find less expensive, viable
alternatives.”Newspapers also reported
that “According to company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
WellPoint, Anthem’s Indianapolis-based parent
company, reported net income of $580.4 million in the first quarter of 2009 and
recorded total assets of $49.4 billion. “The rate increase is particularly
concerning given that Angela Braly, CEO of Anthem’s
parent company, Wellpoint, received over $9.8 million
in compensation in 2008 alone.....”
In February, 2010, Connecticut residents learned that Individual Health Care Premiums For 2010 Soar 20% February 23,
2010|By MATTHEW STURDEVANT, The Hartford Courant Health insurance premiums for
individual medical plans jumped in price by an average of more than 20 percent
this year in Connecticut, placing the state squarely in the cross hairs of the
national health care debate. That increase, revealed by the state Insurance
Department, followed hikes of 16.7 percent and 11.3 percent in the two previous
years. It applies to plans bought by individual customers on their own, not
through employers or other groups or provided through Medicare, Medicaid or a
state program. The rapid rise in individual rates is pushing the number of
uninsured Americans toward 50 million, and it is stirring nationwide anger.
Opponents of the increases blame the insurers. http://articles.courant.com/2010-02-23/business/hc-insurancerates0223.artfeb23_1_rate-hikes-premiums-individual-plans
The following
information was provided to the Federation in 2009, by Nancy Wyman, for whom we
then and continue to compliment for the efficiency of her staff when replying
to requests.The Federation had asked
for and received information on what State taxpayer paid for healthcare in 2009
which totals over $5 billion, as illustrated in the chart below…..
Department
Amount
CME49500 Off of the Chief Med Examiner
5,666,108
DDS50000 Dept Of Developmental Services
970,321,477
DPH48500 Department of Public Health
101,058,573
HCA49000 Office of Health Care Access
2,154,414
MHA53000 Mental Health & Addiction Svcs
582,994,915
PSR56000 Psych Security Review Board
344,474
Medicaid-State Share
1,925,845,400
HUSKYProgram-State Share
14,174,856
Pharmacy Assistance Elderly
31,464,032
DISHHospital Payments
105,935,000
Hospital Medical Emergency Assistance
53,725,000
Urban Hospitals
31,550,000
Hospital Hardship
7,952,900
Medicare Part D supplement
25,264,058
State Employees Health Service
489,278,029
RetiredState Employees Health Services
434,565,329
UCONNHealthCenter
127,706,498
Retired Teachers-Medicare Supplement
14,548,169
RetiredTeachersHealthTown Subsidy
7,885,215
Prison Inmate Medical Services
103,194,273
Psychiatric Clinics for Children
14,127,881
Total
5,049,756,602
While the health insurance issue is being debated
nationally, it is interesting to note who has had access to government funded healthcare:
Government employees throughout the country to include
local, state, and federal as well as retirees.
Seniors who receive medicare.This benefit has been available regardless of
income. Donald Trump and Bill Gates would be eligible.
Americans who deplete their assets by turning their real
estate and savings over to their children 5 years before requiring extended nursing
home care which is then paid by Medicaid. The cost of nursing home care averages $50,000
to $75,000 annually.
Millions of prisoners under local, state and federal
confinement, to include those incarcerated for corruption in Connecticut.
All military service personnel and their families (the most
deserving).
Millions on medicaid - a
healthcare program for the poor and disabled.
Members of Congress and their families.
Illegal immigrants who seek care within a hospital.
Americans under 65 who are on social security disability to
include disabled children.
So who is left?What
Americans are not receiving government funded healthcare?
The working poor and middle class families because their
employer does not provide access to affordable healthcare, yet the worker is
taxed to pay for the healthcare of others.
Healthcare is a sensitive issue in our country today.Continued annual increases reaching 20% or 40% for those
individuals who must purchase healthcare on their own illustrates how serious
the problem is.
*******************************
The Monitor's ViewThe 2010
election was a call to cut public pensions Christian
Science Monior By the Monitor's Editorial Board / November 8, 2010
Voter anger at generous (and unfunded) retirement benefits for government
workers resulted in successful ballot initiatives and the election of governors
promising change.By the Monitor's Editorial Board / November 8, 2010
One little-noticed result of the Nov. 2 elections – the
first since the Great Recession of 2007-09 – was greater voter pressure for
capping a giant gusher of government red ink: the $4 trillion in pension liabilities
for state and municipal workers.
Few politicians, even Democrats backed by the public-worker
unions, could afford not to propose reforms for these retirement benefits that
are often abused, underfunded, and usually far more
generous than those in private business.
In two key states, California
and Illinois,
voters approved many local ballot initiatives calling for pension reform. And
in six states, newly elected governors have proposed one of the most radical
steps: 401(k)-style plans for government employees as an alternative for
traditional guaranteed pensions.Such
victories will build on pension changes already begun in a
handful of states, where reform has been mainly directed at new
hires. In two states, Missouri and Illinois, the retirement
age was recently raised to 67, while 16 states have either cut benefits for new
employees or required current workers to pay something for their benefits. Continued
athttp://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2010/1108/The-2010-election-was-a-call-to-cut-public-pensions