Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

By Deirdre Shesgreen on August 4, 2011 Need a primer on the web of legal challenges to the health reform law? SCOTUSblog will be hosting an online symposium for the next two weeks on the Affordable Care Act and the high court, if and when the Supreme Court will examine the law, what the legal questions will be, and how the justices might rule. Read more http://www.ctmirror.org/node/13495

Connecticut's future hinges on U.S. debt bill: official NEW YORK | Mon Aug 1, 2011 (Reuters) - Connecticut was one of 24 states that lost payroll jobs in June, Lembo said, predicting that at the current rate of job growth it will take more than a decade for the state to win back the over 100,000 jobs lost due the recession. The still-weak real estate market also could hobble the recovery. In Connecticut, for example, home prices slid 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2011 compared to 2010, Lembo said.� Continued at �.. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-connecticut-budget-idUSTRE7704F320110801

Jon Lender: NO�WAY: DMV Has 'Blue Plate' List Of Banned Phrases

Tax Burden Likely To Shift To Homeowners Manchester - Homes In All Value Ranges Have Depreciated Since 2006.�� With completion of the 2011 revaluation, homeowners will likely carry more of the local tax burden than they have in the past five years. Continued �..

� http://articles.courant.com/2011-08-04/community/hc-manchester-revaluation-0805-20110804_1_revaluation-vision-appraisal-technology-property-assessments

Commandos killed in Afghanistan were fighting war few see

ConnDOT Faces $1.5 Billion in Cuts

Cathryn J. Prince, Aug 6, 2011 What�s less clear is whether the proposal is a political ploy or real possibility

What happens after the meltdown? While it's almost over, price damage calls into question the 3-year-old bull market. �By Anthony Mirhaydari on Fri, Aug 5, 2011 12:35 PM It didn't have to be this way. We had a nice tailwind in June and early July. But policy errors have brought us here -- specifically, the debt ceiling debate. � The sell-off that started with the realization that politicians, harboring a toxic mix of immense naivete and undeserved self-assuredness, were willing to toy with the very foundations of the global financial system: U.S. Treasury bonds. These are the "risk-free" assets by which all other securities are judged, the oxygen that sustains the world of high finance. This has shaken confidence and fueled a mini-financial panic not unlike what happened in fall 2008 when the Bush administration's first bank bailout proposal was defeated in the House of Representatives and Lehman Bros. was allowed to fail. Read complete article at http://money.msn.com/investment-advice/article.aspx?post=2986d50d-55cf-44fe-8727-78821e3b1233

Taxing the rich makes state revenue stream more volatile �By Keith M. Phaneuf Aug 5, 2011 CTMirror.org Advocates for a more progressive state income tax won key battles in 2009 and again this spring as new top rates place even higher burdens on Connecticut's wealthiest households. But that comes a price: higher volatility in tax revenues tied to the ups and downs of Wall Street.� Read more http://www.ctmirror.org/story/13505/state-income-tax-increasingly-relies-volatile-wall-street-earnings

NY turns into flee market 1.6M bolt high-tax state in last decade By ERIK KRISS Albany Bureau Chief August 3, 2011 Taxed-out New Yorkers are voting with their feet, with a staggering 1.6 million residents fleeing the state over the last decade, a new report found.� Read report at http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ny_turns_into_flee_market_ZhSgLLASSZQcppjnOSP4vI

Read� More News on Public Sector Unions at http://ctact.org/ under UNIONS on the left hand side of the screen�.�

Deal Slices Public Employees' Pensions in Detroit ��By: Michael Cooper, Mary William Walsh The New York Times� New York Times� 26 Apr 2011, When an arbitrator ruled this month that Detroit could reduce the pensions being earned by its police sergeants and lieutenants, it put the struggling city at the forefront of a growing national debate over whether the pensions of current public workers can or should be reduced. Continued at http://www.cnbc.com/id/42760909