From: Susan Kniep, President
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations, Inc.
Website: http://ctact.org/
email: fctopresident@ctact.org
860-524-6501
March 29, 2005
WELCOME TO THE 46th
EDITION OF
TAX TALK
Review
Previous Tax Talk Issues on our Website at http://ctact.org/
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ATTEND INFORMATIONAL FORUM ON
CONNECTICUT’S EDUCATIONAL
COST-SHARING (ECS) FORUMULA
Wednesday, March 30, 2005, 6 PM
West Hartford Town Hall, 50 South Main
Street, West Hartford,
Auditorium, Third Floor
Attendees:
Members of State’s Education Committee to include Co Chairs State Rep. Andrew M.
Fleischmann, D-West Hartford, and Sen.
Thomas P. Gaffey, D-Meriden,
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FOR YOUR REVIEW
Government
Performance Project - Grading the States 2005
View Connecticut’s Performance
Results
http://results.gpponline.org/StateCategoryCriteria.aspx?id=99&relatedid=5
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National Taxpayers Union
Reckless
Spending Drives Congress's Fiscal Ratings Down, Taxpayer Group's Non-Partisan
Scorecard Shows
http://www.ntu.org/main/press_release.php?PressID=708
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The Rowland Gallery of Crime
As offered by the Hartford Courant
http://www.courant.com/news/yahoo/hc-rowland0319.artmar19,0,3583920.story?coll=hc-aol-yahoo-nws-hed
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Public Hearing -
State’s Planning & Development Committee
Written Statement by Susan Kniep,
President, The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
February, 2005
Support for
Proposed Bill No. 5417
AN ACT CONCERNING PROPERTY TAX
REFORM
Proposed Bill No. 5417
AN ACT CONCERNING PROPERTY TAX REFORM. Introduced by representatives Urban (43rd
Dist) and Winkler (41st Dist)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened: That the general statutes be amended to (1) adjust all
property assessments to the valuation level in calendar year 2000, (2) freeze
valuations at the calendar year 2000 level, eliminating the need for future
appraisals, appeals and litigation, and (3) provide that property valuations
remain frozen until change of ownership, and valuations at change of ownership
increase only by the actual cost of any improvements. Statement of
Purpose: To reform the property
tax system.
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Comments by Susan Kniep
The movement for property tax
reform is sweeping across our country as local governments address budget
shortfalls by imposing large increases in property-tax rates on home valuations disproportionate
to the income level of property owners.
The America Dream of home ownership is instead becoming a nightmare for
some who are being forced to put their homes up for sale or worse into
bankruptcy due to their inability to pay their local property taxes.
Ladies and gentlemen, you, and you alone, hold the key to
true property tax relief for Connecticut residents. The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations, Inc. has been at the forefront in seeking reform through changes
to state mandates such as Binding Arbitration and Prevailing Wage. Today, we urge your support for Bill 5417
which will allow property owners relief on their individual properties and also
from the exorbitant costs of revaluation imposed on municipal budgets.
The current antiquated system of assessment and taxation is
both unfair and inequitable. It is not
based on one’s ability to pay and its impact is felt on the most vulnerable of
our society, the elderly and those living on fixed incomes. They are being forced to choose between paying
their property taxes and paying for necessities such as prescription drugs and
food. Recently, a woman contacted me
regarding her 10 year old son who had to rely on a wheelchair since birth. She explained how she could not keep up with
the payments on the special handicap van because her taxes had increased so dramatically
over the past two years. I am frequently
contacted by the elderly who cannot afford to remain in their homes.
The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer
Organizations recognizes that the State must assume a multifaceted approach to
property tax relief. It must stabilize
property tax values through the Bill before you today. Concurrently, the State and municipalities
must be given the tools to control spending through reforming such state
mandates such as Binding Arbitration and Prevailing Wage. The state must also restructure state
government to address the loss of millions of our tax dollars through such
agencies as the Economic Development.
The state must increase operational, procedural and financial audits of
state agencies and projects which will in turn help to detect corruption, and
most importantly, the state must impose effective ethics laws which will remove
those who violate the public’s trust from office on both a local and state
level.
State legislatures
in other parts of the country have responded to the call for property tax
relief. In Illinois and South Carolina, recently passed
bills limit increases in property-tax assessments.
We hope that you
support the bill before you today. At
minimum, this legislature must within this year provide some form of property
tax relief through effective legislative reform.
We can no longer
set budgets first and raise taxes to pay for them later. We must reign in
spending and establish a fair assessment system on which to impose property taxes.
Thank you for your
time.
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Robert Young,
Wethersfield Taxpayers
Association
Subject: Why are we
funding Bristol with $45 million?
March 19, 2005
Bob Young of Wethersfield provides an excellent example, in
the following article, of why State taxpayers are financing the highest bonded
per capita debt in the nation. Our state
debt is approximately $12 billion. We
pay approximately $500
million in interest annually.
City Ready To Close
Mall Deal On Monday
March 19, 2005, By DON STACOM, Courant
Staff Writer BRISTOL -- The city has a fleet of dump trucks, several
parks and more than a dozen schools, but next week it expects to own something
no other Connecticut municipality
does: A shopping mall. City leaders
agreed Friday evening to buy the ailing, half-vacant Bristol Centre Mall for
about $5.4 million in a deal that is scheduled to close Monday morning. Article continued at http://www.courant.com/news/local/nb/hc-brimall0319.artmar19,0,2173201.story
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THE ARNOLD REVOLUTION By
Dick Morris, March 17., 2005 New York Post
Read article in
its entirety….. http://www.joinarnold.com/en/press/pressdetail.php?id=696
Excerpt…. But Arnold's revolution
also aims to restore democracy at home.
Disgusted by
the gerrymandering that led to the re-election of all but a handful of members
of Congress in 2000 and 2002 (including all 54 California congressmen in 2002
and everyone but Gary Condit in 2000), Schwarzenegger is acting to end the
disgrace on our democracy. He is pushing a voter initiative to adopt the Iowa Plan - to have
legislative and congressional districts drawn by independent jurists who aren't
permitted to take account of incumbency or party in creating the districts. The
cynical political deals that underscored the post-2000 Census reapportionment
made the incumbents of both parties invulnerable and limited the number of
swing seats to a mere 5 percent of the House of Representatives. Gov. Arnold
will change all that in California. And, as with
hydrogen cars, his action will likely awaken voters across the nation to take
back their democracy.
Finally, Schwarzenegger is striking at
the root of the problem with public education by seeking to smash teacher
tenure and pay and promote teachers based on merit, just like other employees
in America. The privileged classroom enclave where
incompetence is not punished and excellence is not rewarded will be ended in California.
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Theresa McGrath
Executive Director
Family Alliance for Children in
Education
860-570-1203
face0203@comcast.net
Invitation: Hartford
Region of the Autism Society of Connecticut
Thursday, April 14th, 6:30 - 9:00 pm, 2005 to celebrate Autism Awareness Month.
Pass this invitation along to anyone you know and your
School Systems as well.
An evening with Kathleen Koenig, MSN Associate Research
Scientist, Yale Child Study Center, Topic:
Psychosocial Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
at, HARC, 900 Asylum Ave, Hartford, CT. Contact Beth Katten
to RSVP at (860) 236-8374 or email bethkatten@yahoo.com
The Today series focuses on educating the public on the signs and causes of
autism, how it is diagnosed, what educational programs exist, how it affects
families, and how parents of autistic children can better advocate for their
children. Please refer to the following website….. http://www.autismspeaks.org/autism/menu/video.asp
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M.McLachlan@ci.danbury.ct.us
Subject:
Clean City Danbury Day
– April 9th
Mayor Mark Boughton Needs Your
Support Recruiting Volunteers for a “Clean City” …..The 2nd Annual Clean City Danbury Day will enhance
our efforts to eliminate blight and litter in Danbury by recruiting
volunteers for an old-fashioned neighborhood cleanup. In 2004 we recruited 89
teams and over 700 individual volunteers. This spectacular group of volunteers
removed over 42 tons of garbage, litter and debris from city streets and parks!
Nearly twenty teams joined the Adopt-A-Street Program and continued working all
year for our “Clean City.” We need your
help for Saturday, April 9th. Thank you.
Please Contact Mike McLachlan in the Mayor’s
Office, 797-4511 – Fax 796-1666, Email: m.mclachlan@ci.danbury.ct.us
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Let the Sun Shine,
The Connecticut Law Tribune
03-14-2005
Excerpts: Sometimes
it's as close to home as the cop at the service desk who asks you why you want
to see the incident report you asked for instead of just giving it to you. Or
the city council members who gather at the local coffee shop to hash out how
they'll keep a political pal on the payroll. Or the school board members who
plot in executive session to thwart an investigation of a teacher accused of
sexually abusing children.
Or maybe it's at the state capitol, where a citizen's request for the
governor's budget projections languishes for months on a bureaucrat's desk. Or
in Washington, where — well,
you name it.
Legions of facts that once were routinely available no longer can be had
because of irrational fear that their availability somehow could aid a
terrorist's plot.
Refer to the following website for the complete article…. http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/Preview&c=PubArticle&cid=1110535510511
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Solons Question
Open Space Bailout
Dan Levine, The Connecticut
Law Tribune
03-14-2005
Excerpts:
The property: 1,000
acres of coastal woodlands and streams close to the Connecticut shoreline --
mostly in Old Saybrook -- known as the Preserve, with
small portions in Essex and Westbrook.
The owner: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
The plan: 172 units of attached and detached homes, 49 houses on
half-acre lots and 27 estate homes on two-acre parcels, plus a golf course. The opposition: Local residents, environmental groups, first
selectmen and legislators, all of whom hope the state Department of
Environmental Protection can purchase the property and preserve it as open
space. The obstacle: Money. The solution: Enough charged on the
state's credit card to make Lehman walk away with a profit and a public
relations boost.
Refer to the
following website for the complete article…. http://www.law.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/Preview&c=PubArticle&cid=1110535510516