Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Connecticut has been taking center stage among the national news networks as state leaders encumber taxpayers with increasing debt and sleight-of-hand finances.� http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/09/29/commentary/510481.txt

Also Check out the following in this edition of Tax Talk:�

� U.S. Cities Expect Finances to Worsen as Property Taxes Slide

� POLL: Dislike of healthcare law crosses party lines, 1 in 4 Dems want repeal

� The Sweep: What went wrong for Dems?

� Lieberman backs permanent Race to the Top�

� Schools or teachers: Which are more important?

� It is no secret that education in America has lagged, by international standards, for quite a few years.

� Schwarzenegger Has Power to Order Worker Furloughs, California Court Says �

� Health Cares Uneven Road to a New Era�

� Rell asks feds to relax insurance rule

� Federal health care reform will put new demands on shrinking state workforce

� Frustrated House still waiting for Senate action on 420 bills

� Top donors give lots, say little

U.S. Cities Expect Finances to Worsen as Property Taxes Slide By William Selway Bloomberg, Oct 6, 2010 U.S. cities expect their financial strains to worsen as the slide in real estate prices that began four years ago cuts deeper into property-tax collections, according to a survey by the National League of Cities.� Eighty percent of city finance officers expect to have more difficulty balancing their budgets in the 2011 fiscal year, which began in June for most municipalities, than during the prior period, according to the survey. While housing prices have begun to stabilize, property taxes are expected to drop as home prices are reassessed to account for earlier declines.� Theyre in the eye of the storm right now, said Christopher Hoene, the director of research for the association, a Washington group that lobbies for local governments.� The city officials expectations show how the economys emergence from the recession is leaving lingering financial difficulties for communities. Confronted with budget deficits, public officials have raised fees, cut spending for police and firefighters, and frozen employee pay to make up for the gaps.� The National League, which surveyed 338 cities from April through June, said general-fund revenue, adjusted for inflation, dropped 3.2 percent in the 2010 budget year. That was the steepest decline since the group began keeping track in 1986. Spending was cut 2.3 percent, the most since 2003. Continued at .. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-06/u-s-cities-expect-finances-to-worsen-as-property-taxes-slide-study-says.html

POLL: Dislike of healthcare law crosses party lines, 1 in 4 Dems want repeal By Bob Cusack - 10/06/10 http://thehill.com/house-polls/the-hill-anga-poll-week-1/122851-distaste-for-healthcare-law-crosses-party-lines

The Sweep: What went wrong for Dems?, By Gloria Borger, CNN Senior Political Analyst, Oct 6,� - Two years ago, Democrats appeared poised to take over Washington for good. Now Republicans stand to make big gains in the mid-terms and Democrats are fighting for survival. Continued at . http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/06/gloria.borger.sweep/index.html

Lieberman backs permanent Race to the Top By Deirdre Shesgreen, Oct 6, 2010, ctmirror.org - WASHINGTON--Sen. Joseph Lieberman is pushing to make Race to the Top a permanent part of federal education policy--to the dismay of state officials who have twice lost out on the competitive grants. Lieberman, an independent, is pushing legislation to change the Obama Administration's Race to the Top initiative from a one-shot federal stimulus program into an enduring feature of federal education policy� Continued at .. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7918/racelieberman

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Schools or teachers: Which are more important?
Huffington Post, Oct. 4, 2010 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-tipler/schools-or-teachers-which_b_748781.html

It is no secret that education in America has lagged, by international standards, for quite a few years. This chart, just produced by the Cato Institute, makes the point with beautiful simplicity: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/09/027347.php

Schwarzenegger Has Power to Order Worker Furloughs, California Court Says � By Karen Gullo and Michael Marois - Oct 4, 2010 1:37 PM ET� California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had the authority to furlough state workers last year to save money amid the states budget crisis, the California Supreme Court ruled today.� Schwarzenegger, who in July 2009 faced a $24 billion deficit, ordered more than 150,000 state workers to take time off without pay through June 30. Employees were directed to take at least two days of mandatory unpaid time off each month. A union representing state engineers sued, claiming the furloughs amounted to an illegal pay cut.� The Republican governor, who now faces a $19.1 billion deficit in the most populous U.S. state, extended the furloughs in July to cover the current fiscal year, saying they will last until a budget is enacted.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-04/california-s-schwarzenegger-can-order-worker-furloughs-state-court-rules.html

Health Cares Uneven Road to a New Era� By DAVID LEONHARDT October 5, 2010, New York Times - Consider what it would be like to have a health insurance plan that capped annual benefits at $2,000. For any medical care costing more than that, you would have to pay out of pocket. Examples of care that costs more than $2,000 and often a lot more include virtually any cancer treatment, any heart surgery, a years worth of diabetes treatment and care for many broken bones. Even a single M.R.I. exam can cost more than $2,000. A typical hospital stay runs thousands of dollars more. A $2,000 plan happens to be one of the main plans that McDonalds offers its employees. It became big news last week, when The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was worried the plan would run afoul of a provision in the new health care law. In response to the provision, McDonalds threatened to drop the coverage altogether, until the Obama administration signaled it would grant some exemptions. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/business/economy/06leonhardt.html?_r=1&hp

Rell asks feds to relax insurance rule By Arielle Levin Becker CtMirror.org, Oct 4, 2010,� Saying federal regulations have created a "stone wall" preventing Connecticut residents from enrolling in a new state health insurance plan, Gov. M. Jodi Rell has asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to consider relaxing the rule. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7890/rell-pre-existing-condition-letter

Federal health care reform will put new demands on shrinking state workforce CT Mirror, Oct 1, 2010 http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7884/health-reform-state-workforce

Frustrated House still waiting for Senate action on 420 bills Russell Berman The Hill 10/05/10� http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/122681-frustrated-house-still-waiting-for-senate-action-on-420-approved-bills

Top donors give lots, say little October 1, 2010,CtMirror,org

By Deirdre Shesgreen and Uma Ramiah� The No. 1 political giver in the state is the Fass family. Daniel Fass, a Greenwich radiation oncologist, and his wife Jessica, have written nearly $200,000 in campaign checks to more than a dozen politicians and party committees, according to an analysis conducted for the Mirror by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics. CRP's tally covers donations made from January 2009 through June 2010, the most recent data available http://www.ctmirror.org/story/7886/cttopdonors