January 15, 2012
From The Federation of Connecticut
Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
Contact Susan Kniep, President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
FBI warns of new banking scam
The following is contained in
this edition of Tax Talk…
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It's Official: Wealth Gap Is America's No. 1 Source of
Conflict
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GOP maps strategy in wake of payroll tax debacle
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Regulators face pressure from both GOP, Dems
on implementing ‘Volcker Rule’
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Governor promises Sunday liquor sales, lower prices in
sweeping regulatory overhaul 'Mom-and-pop' package stores offered
inducement to cash out
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Special Master’s Redistricting Plan Changes Little
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FBI Probe of Developer Heads To New
Haven City Hall
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Dems Line Up In Support Health Care Reform Act
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European Leaders
Use Debt Downgrades to Argue for Austerity, and for Stimulus Lowering state health costs by recouping what insurance
should cover
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State's failure to appeal health insurance denials cost
millions
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Governor promises Sunday liquor sales, lower prices in
sweeping regulatory overhaul
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New 5th District map shows gerrymandering live and well
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States face uphill climb in suit over health law's Medicaid
expansion
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Court filing claims 17 million young adults would lose coverage
without health law
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It's Official: Wealth Gap Is America's No. 1 Source of
Conflict
Do you think that the biggest conflict in America is between the rich and the
poor? If so, join the club: According to a recent poll published by the Pew Research Center, nearly two-thirds of
Americans believe that the wealth gap is the greatest cause of tension in America. Continued at …. http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/01/13/its-official-wealth-gap-has-turned-america-into-a-seething-pit/
GOP maps strategy in wake of payroll tax debacle
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Regulators face pressure from both GOP, Dems on implementing
‘Volcker Rule’ Peter Schroeder - 01/16/12 05:30 AM ET The Volcker Rule,
named for the man behind the idea, former Federal Reserve Chairman and Obama adviser Paul Volcker, is
aimed at a relatively simple goal – keep federally-insured financial
institutions like banks from getting in deep with a slew of risky
investments. Lawmakers were eager to avoid a repeat of the broad-based
financial crisis, and hoped to ensure banks could weather financial storms
caused by riskier investments. The rule as envisioned in the law seeks to ban
“proprietary trading” by such institutions, which is when banks make financial
trades with their own cash for their own profit, not at the request of clients.
Furthermore, the rule seeks to set up a firewall between those institutions and
riskier investment shops like hedge funds and private equity firms. Both
provisions carry some exceptions. However, turning that idea into a reality has
been a massive headache for regulators. As proof of how complex it is to make
that fundamental idea into actionable rules, one need look no further than the
original proposal put forward by most regulators in October; it spans nearly
300 pages and asks for the public to weigh in on almost 400 specific points as
the rule-writers still are trying to work out the kinks. Business and financial
groups, as well as congressional Republicans, have told regulators to slow down
on the rule, arguing a shoddy implementation would do far more harm than good. Continued
at ….. http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/204251-regulators-face-pressure-from-both-gop-dems-on-implementing-volcker-rule
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Governor promises Sunday liquor sales, lower prices in
sweeping regulatory overhaul 'Mom-and-pop'
package stores offered inducement to cash out By
Mark Pazniokas CtMirror.org By Mark Pazniokas on
January 14, 2012 Enfield -- Alcohol laws
proposed Saturday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would
change the retail market in Connecticut by lifting rules that have long
protected package store owners with tight controls on prices, ownership and
hours and days of operation. Malloy said his proposals are intended to make Connecticut
merchants competitive in price and convenience with liquor stores in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode
Island. Connecticut package stores could stay
open daily until 10 p.mAn industry dominated by small
"mom and pops" most likely would see a new era of competition from
larger companies running mini-chains of up to nine stores, a challenge likely
to force a sale or closure for some of the state's 1,228 package stores.
Current law allows common ownership of just two stores Malloy is offering some
consolation for package stores: the ability to slightly expand their product
lines to include snack foods, and the creation of a statewide medallion system
intended to increase the value of present store permits.
By requiring a medallion to open a new store, anyone trying
to establish a chain would be forced to buy a medallion from an existing owner.
The medallions could be used anywhere within the state, subject to local
zoning. They appear to be an enticement for some owners to exit the business. "What
I am saying to the owner of the shops is that I am working with you,"
Malloy said. "A lot of these folks are going to retire at some
point." Continued at …..
http://www.ctmirror.org/story/15059/governor-proposes-sunday-sales-and-lower-prices-alcohol
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Foley's back (sort of) By Jacqueline Rabe
Thomas on January 13, 2012 Tom Foley's back, and the public policy group he formed after losing
a close gubernatorial race is focusing on jobs and education.
Foley's Connecticut Policy Institute -- which is described
as a nonpartisan think tank -- in the last two days has asserted it wants to be
a part of the discussion as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy
moves forward with his jobs and education agenda. On Thursday the group put out a policy brief on jobs. The next day it announced it would be hosting a
forum on how school choice fits into education reform. Malloy has said the
legislative session that begins in three weeks will be dedicated to education
reform. The forum will be in New Haven at Yale University.
Speakers include former Hartford Public Schools Superintendent Steven Adamowski, an official from the school choice advocacy
group ConnCAN and Nate
Snow, the executive director of Teach for America. Continued at … http://www.ctmirror.org/node/15044
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European Leaders
Use Debt Downgrades to Argue for Austerity, and for Stimulus By JACK EWING
Published: January 14, 2012
FRANKFURT — European leaders sought to limit damage from a ratings agency’s
downgrade of nine countries on Friday, or even turn the news to
their advantage, saying that it showed the need to impose more austerity or
else do more to stimulate growth. Continued at …. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/business/global/after-downgrades-european-leaders-argue-for-both-austerity-and-stimulus.html?src=recg
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Lowering state health costs by recouping what insurance
should cover By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas CTMirror.org Jan 13, 2012 Connecticut's child welfare agency spends $16.4 million a year on
mental and behavioral health services, a sum that translates to about $30,000 for
each child. The problem, says the Department of Children and Families, is that
one of every five children has private health insurance that is not covering
what their doctors say is needed, leaving the state to pick up the tab. That's
about to change, and other agencies, including the state's largest health care
provider, are being pushed to follow suit …….David Dearborn, a DSS spokesman,
wrote in an email that the agency does not appeal. He said the contractor that
DSS uses to handle claims "will re-bill the private insurance
company" when someone is applying for DSS services but does not go through
the whole appeals process if they again deny coverage. The re-billing recoups
approximately $24 million a year of the more than $4.6 billion DSS spends on Medicaid.
The Department of Developmental Services does not appeal insurance denials
either. DDS provides services for 15,600 adults with mental and behavioral
illness. Continued at ….. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/15037/state-covering-children-health-insurance-remedy-action-one-agency-others-lag
State's failure to appeal health insurance denials cost
millions
Governor promises Sunday liquor sales, lower prices in
sweeping regulatory overhaul By Mark Pazniokas CTMirror.org Enfield -- Alcohol laws proposed Saturday by
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy would change the retail market
in Connecticut by lifting rules that have long protected package store owners
with tight controls on prices, ownership and hours and days of operation. An
industry dominated by small "mom and pops" most likely would see a
new era of competition from larger companies running mini-chains of up to nine
stores, a challenge likely to force a sale or closure for some of the state's
1,228 package stores. Current law allows common ownership of just two stores.
Continued at ….. http://ctmirror.org/story/15059/governor-proposes-sunday-sales-and-lower-prices-alcohol
OPINION: New 5th District map shows gerrymandering live and well
http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2012/01/14/opinion/doc4f11bdba5656e792675085.txt
States face uphill climb in suit over health law's Medicaid
expansion Sam Baker 01/15/12 The Hill By Sam Baker The brief makes a concerted effort to link
the Medicaid expansion to the individual mandate, arguing that states couldn’t
exercise their legal right to leave Medicaid because it’s the only way for
Medicaid-eligible residents to satisfy the mandate. “While the (Affordable Care
Act) purports to leave States’ participation in Medicaid nominally voluntary,
multiple aspects of the Act evince Congress’ keen awareness that, in fact, no
State will be able to reject its new terms and withdraw from the program,” the
brief says. “Most obviously, the ACA’s individual
mandate requires Medicaid-eligible individuals to obtain and maintain
insurance.” But most Medicaid-eligible people would be exempt from the mandate,
said Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee
University and a
supporter of the health law. People whose incomes fall below the federal
poverty level are exempt from the requirement to buy insurance. The mandate
also does not apply to anyone who couldn’t buy a specific type of plan without
spending more than 8 percent of his or her income. Those two exemptions will
capture nearly everyone who’s eligible for Medicaid, Jost
said. Continued at …. http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/legal-challenges/204191-states-face-uphill-climb-in-suit-over-health-laws-medicaid-expansion
Court filing claims 17 million young adults would lose
coverage without health law By Julian Pecquet Jan 13, 2012
Seventeen million young
Americans would lose promised access to health insurance if the Supreme Court
strikes down President Obama's healthcare reform law,
the consumer advocacy group Young Invincibles argues
in a legal brief filed
Thursday. Read more...
Check out previous Tax Talk Publications at …… http://ctact.org/