Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Your weekly update on what others are thinking, doing, and planning
Send your comments or questions to me, and
I will include in next week's publication.

Please note that TAX TALK is now on our Website

Thank you to all who have contributed to the most recent Tax Talk. Two items of interest follow.

The First is the January 15 Agenda for the next FCTO meeting. Please let me know if you would like to add an Item to the Agenda. Also, have you determined what month would be convenient to hold a FCTO meeting in your area. Pick a month and we can discuss the agenda and marketing campaign to generated interest in the meeting and FCTO.

The Second is the most recent revelation regarding Governor Rowland's admission of lies. Please refer to our Web Site at ctact.org and provide me with some feedback. Do you believe the Governor should resign? I will include in our next Tax Talk. Thank you. Susan Kniep

AGENDA

January 15 FCTO Meeting
7:00 TO 9:00 PM

Riverside Health Care Center
745 Main Street, East Hartford
Park Across the Street in Town Hall Parking Lot (740 Main St)

Opening Remarks by Susan Kniep

Roll Call

Membership Drive

2004 Issues Calendar

2004 Meeting Calendar

Marketing Campaign

Status Binding Arbitration Responses

Financial Report

Opportunity for Taxpayer Groups to Speak - Approx 5 Mins each

Closing Remarks by Susan Kniep

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Gifts, Lies Admitted
Gov. Rowland Acknowledges Free Work On Cottage
December 13, 2003
By JON LENDER, DAVE ALTIMARI, And EDMUND H. MAHONY Courant Staff Writers

Gov. John G. Rowland admitted Friday that he received thousands of dollars' worth of free work on his Litchfield vacation cottage from top state officials and from a major contractor that received more than $100 million in no-bid contracts from his administration. Please refer to FCTO's website at ctact.org for the complete story.
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Phil Gosselin, imgoose7@yahoo.com
East Hartford
Subj: Property Tax
December 13, 2003
Hi Susan,I'm am currently working with the Hartford Region Interfaith Coalition for Equity and Justice; in particular on their Tax Task Force. (the other two Task Forces are Health Insurance and Education). We are educating ourselves and ultimately the public and our public officials about a two tier property tax system; in this system, land is taxed at a higher rate than buildings/improvements. It appears to revenue neutral but will have a positive drag on sprawl and blight. Since the land is the most costly to possess, it will encourage building on existing land instead of purchasing more land to build on (sprawl) and will also discourage the holding of abandoned/underdeveloped property in inner cities. There are numerous other positive effects from this system as well.Peace,Phil Gosselin
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Robert Young, hoploans@snet.net
Wethersfield Taxpayers Association
Subj: The New Slavery
December 10, 2003
The New Slavery by R. Lee Wrights
For many years I labored under the false conclusion that the practice of human bondage had been abolished by the latter decades of the nineteenth century. But, as I grew older and began to pay closer attention to the political climate in the United States, I realized that slavery had not disappeared. It did fade from public view from the latter part of the nineteenth century into the early decades of the twentieth century. However, after the 1930's we can actually find slavery rising again in society. It is a "New Slavery." The new slavery knows no boundaries such as race, creed, color, religious beliefs or sexual preference. It is the one system where we all are truly equal. The new slavery touches every corner of our lives. From the cradle to the grave we are tethered by the chains of regulation forged by our own government. A two-party system has bred a tremendous growth in centralized government power, especially over the last seventy-five years. Their principle tool for creating our shackles is an oxymoron they call "controlled choice." Think about it for a moment. Controlled choice. Now if this term does not offend you, then chances are you are satisfied with a strong, exclusionary two-party political system. On the other hand, if the sound of controlled choice does not sit well with you, it is more likely that you already know what I am talking about. Let's face it, if your choices are "controlled" by someone or something other than your own will, you have become a slave. You fall helpless before a cruel taskmaster with government using the whip of regulation to beat you into quiet, humble submission. I hear every day how we are the freest people on earth living in the greatest country in the history of the world. Just remember that no great empire has ever been built without the help of some form of slavery. The most glaring example of government using controlled choice is the two-party system itself! Every state in the union we call the United States has some form of ballot access restriction. How can the Republicans and Democrats ever lose if they are the only two choices you have? They use the excuse of keeping the ballots clean and uncluttered. They "unclutter" things by making sure the voters have the fewest parties and candidates as possible on an election ballot to choose from. We are left far too often with a lose-lose situation called "voting the lesser of the two evils." Folks, evil is evil I don't care what you call it! Harry Browne, Libertarian Presidential candidate in the last election said, "Voting Democrat or Republican is like voting for which vehicle will carry you to hell the slowest." I am afraid he is right. If I don't have the choice of not going to hell at all, I do not really have a choice at all. I become a slave to the parties that hold the power of government and suffer the sting of binding regulations. As my good friend Thomas Knapp, publisher of Rational Review, would say, "I would be satisfied if the people that are acting as umpires would not also play bat boy for one of the teams." The Democrats and Republicans have no incentive what so ever to allow easier ballot access for smaller third parties. The easiest way to win is not to allow any competition, and as a result, the Democrats and Republicans can fight it out by themselves on the stage of world politics. How convenient. In North Carolina the last election revealed that the largest block of registered voters were registered "Unaffiliated." The largest block of voters in the Old North State are obviously dissatisfied with the choices they are being offered. Why? Because their choices are being controlled. Add to the number of Unaffiliated voters almost ten thousand Libertarians and a handful of other third parties that manage to gain ballot access at the last minute before a presidential election. All these voters have become servants to the duopoly of Democrat and Republican rule. They take our money without our consent and tell us they possess eminent domain over our property. The term "eminent domain" means superior ownership. The government owns everything, folks! And you have to pay a tax to the Democrats and Republicans for the privilege of using your own property. You become a sharecropper for a government best describe as a bloated beast of bureaucracy. A two-party political system ties our hands in endless twines of regulations, and enslaves us as generation after generation is bred to make money for a black hole of bureaucracy.
Thomas Jefferson wrote over two hundred years ago, "Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our own will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others." Anything that government does that breeches this birthright, enslaves us even further. The whole idea of controlled choice exercised in every aspect of our lives embodies the new slavery. If you accept the concept that controlling your choices is okay, you are already a slave. If you do not wish to vote for either Republicans or Democrats, you are already a slave. And just like any other instance of abolishing human bondage in the history of the world, it will take a united voice rising with the strength of millions willing to proclaim. "Enough is enough!"
"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."
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Susan Kniep, Katzrus50e@aol.com
FCTO President
Subject: FCTO Website
December 12, 2003
Visit FCTO's website, ctact.org, for updates on Binding Arbitration, Prevailing Wage and other subjects. Please contact me if you would like to add to our website.
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Mary Kubick, foxrun@optonline.net
Taxpayers Group: CUT
Subject: Affordable Housing
December 11, 2003 To:
Good PM - Quite a bit going on in Redding re Affordable Housing. Will
provide you with more info shortly..............I truly enjoy your "news".
Mary Kubick, CUT, Redding
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