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Post by clarencebunsen on Jan 22, 2011 20:11:34 GMT -5
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Post by bobbbiez on Jan 22, 2011 20:26:46 GMT -5
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Post by Ralph on Jan 23, 2011 1:33:53 GMT -5
Common sense is not all that common.
All they have to do it cap the taxes, no more raises......just like we have to put up with.
You don't have enough coming in? Well then (just like us) you have to start trimming the fat.
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Post by corner on Jan 23, 2011 16:20:31 GMT -5
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Post by clarencebunsen on Jan 23, 2011 17:18:54 GMT -5
There was an opponent in the last election, any turnover would have been an improvement.
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Post by corner on Jan 23, 2011 19:35:21 GMT -5
There was an opponent in the last election, any turnover would have been an improvement. true that she is too locked in with sheldon silver and nyc political machine she seems to think we need nyc not the other way around
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Post by bobbbiez on Jan 23, 2011 19:47:03 GMT -5
Seems to me more then just the NYC political machine is voting her in every time.
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Post by dgriffin on Jan 25, 2011 0:57:34 GMT -5
Seems to me more then just the NYC political machine is voting her in every time. You're sure right about that, Bz. Another case of an incumbent elected because mostly it's only his or her supporters who show up the polls. And they believe that today our government is surely lacking, but THEIR candidate isn't the problem. Most candidates for office these days are indeed the problem, winners and losers alike.
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Post by dgriffin on Feb 2, 2011 9:47:34 GMT -5
Press Release February 2, 2011
Contact: Ron Deutsch, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness (518) 469-6769 \ Gioia Shebar, Tax Nightmare.org (845) 256-0082 Susan Zimet, Ulster County Legislator, (845) 527-5309 John Whiteley, NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition, (518) 585-6837 Robert McKeon, Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess (TREND) (845) 399-4582
Governor Cuomo and Senate Right on Property Tax Crisis - Wrong on Tax Cap
(Albany, NY) Property Tax Reform groups and fiscal watchdogs from across the state called upon Governor Cuomo and the Senate to champion real property tax relief not “rhetorical solutions.” They urged Governor Cuomo and the Senate to reconsider their plan for a “property tax cap” that has failed in many other states and provides no relief to over-burdened tax payers and replace it with a circuit breaker.
The Governor, in his State of the State, highlighted Geraldine Sullivan, an 81 year young resident of Monroe County, retired and living on Social Security, as an example of someone that needs help with their property tax burden. She has seen her home value go down and her property taxes go up. She can’t afford to make ends meet so she went back to work as a lunch monitor. Regrettably there are hundreds of thousands of Geraldine’s in NYS. The problem with this example is the Governor and Senate’s solution (tax levy cap) will only ensure that her taxes continue to rise. As a result of the tax cap she may also lose access to her senior center, meals on wheels and other services she may be relying on. She is also likely to lose her job as lunch monitor under the cap. The only way to help Geraldine is to pass a circuit breaker that will limit her taxes to an affordable percentage of her income. That is the only way to help Geraldine!
"We applaud Governor Cuomo and the Senate for their expression of concern over high property taxes and their recognition that many families can no longer afford to pay them," said John Whiteley of the NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition. "However, we are disheartened that they appear to believe a property tax cap will somehow make them more affordable for the families in this state. The reality is that a tax cap will ensure that taxes will continue to rise -- making them even LESS affordable -- and since the tax cap does not actually cap one's tax bill, many will find their individual increase substantially higher than the nominal cap percentage. We hope the Governor and the Senate will recognize that only a middle class circuit breaker can cap, and actually reduce, the property tax burden of those most at risk of being forced from their homes, and that that is the measure most urgently needed at this time."
Gioia Shebar of Taxnightmare.org states, “I was surprised by the Governor and Senates efforts to deal with our state’s property tax crisis. Instead of inspiring us with new ideas, they contrived to hitch their star to a shopworn and discreditable concept of relieving the burden of confiscatory property taxes from middle class families by instituting a tax levy cap, which will only continue to raise thesealready insupportable taxes.”
“The proposals put forth by the Governor and the Senate today will not fix our upside-down tax system. It is not enough to simply say taxes are too high. Who are they too high for? The Wealthy? Middle Class? We have an opportunity this year that we must not squander.” said Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness. “Rather than letting the income tax surcharge on the wealthiest expire - we should keep it in place and use that revenue to fund a real property tax circuit breaker for struggling working/middle class families in New York State. The Governor and Senate have clearly articulated the problem - unfortunately they are proposing the wrong solution.”
"If more than four out of every ten New Yorkers pay an overwhelming amount of their income towards property tax, why would they welcome a levy cap that does nothing to help them. Income and sales taxes have percentage limitations - we need one for the property tax. It's called a circuit breaker and it will solve so many of our issues all at once," said Robert McKeon, Director of TREND NY."After nearly 30 years of a levy cap, Massachusetts family’s average property tax as a percentage of income dropped a fraction of one percent- not a huge difference. They have higher "fees", lower services and the same unfair, unprogressive property tax system. Maine instead should be the role model with their 5% (of income) circuit breaker that will protect all of their citizens from excessive burdens."
Susan Zimet, Ulster County Legislator and Director of the Zimet Group said, “Talking about the hollow promise of a tax cap to solve the excruciatingly painful property tax problem does a disservice to New Yorkers. A tax cap is passing the buck to the local level while pretending to have done something. A circuit breaker is the only mechanism that will provide relief to the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers at risk of losing their homes and fleeing the state.”
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2011 18:22:00 GMT -5
It is time to bust the unions. Public employees should be no different than private employees. Pay for your own health care and retirement.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2011 6:03:21 GMT -5
It is time to bust the unions. Public employees should be no different than private employees. Pay for your own health care and retirement. Alan, just curious. How much do you pay for your health care? For you're information, union members are your friends & neighbors that are just middle class folks trying to make a decent living. I didn't know that there was something wrong in that.
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Post by dgriffin on Feb 25, 2011 7:05:23 GMT -5
And what do you think of this, Kracker?Billionaire Brothers’ Money Plays Role in Wisconsin DisputeBy ERIC LIPTON Published: February 21, 2011 WASHINGTON — Among the thousands of demonstrators who jammed the Wisconsin State Capitol grounds this weekend was a well-financed advocate from Washington who was there to voice praise for cutting state spending by slashing union benefits and bargaining rights. The visitor, Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, told a large group of counterprotesters who had gathered Saturday at one edge of what otherwise was a mostly union crowd that the cuts were not only necessary, but they also represented the start of a much-needed nationwide move to slash public-sector union benefits. “We are going to bring fiscal sanity back to this great nation,” he said. What Mr. Phillips did not mention was that his Virginia-based nonprofit group, whose budget surged to $40 million in 2010 from $7 million three years ago, was created and financed in part by the secretive billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch. State records also show that Koch Industries, their energy and consumer products conglomerate based in Wichita, Kan., was one of the biggest contributors to the election campaign of Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Republican who has championed the proposed cuts. Even before the new governor was sworn in last month, executives from the Koch-backed group had worked behind the scenes to try to encourage a union showdown, Mr. Phillips said in an interview on Monday. State governments have gone into the red, he said, in part because of the excessively generous pay and benefits that unions have been able to negotiate for teachers, police, firefighters and other state and local employees. “We thought it was important to do,” Mr. Phillips said, adding that his group is already working with activists and state officials in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania to urge them to take similar steps to curtail union benefits or give public employees the power to opt out of unions entirely. To union leaders and liberal activists in Washington, this intervention in Wisconsin is proof of the expanding role played by nonprofit groups with murky ties to wealthy corporate executives as they push a decidedly conservative agenda. “The Koch brothers are the poster children of the effort by multinational corporate America to try to redefine the rights and values of American citizens,” said Representative Gwen Moore, Democrat of Wisconsin, who joined with others in the union protests.A spokesman for Koch Industries, as well as Mr. Phillips, scoffed at that accusation. The companies owned by Koch (pronounced Coke) — which include the Georgia-Pacific Corporation and the Koch Pipeline Company — have no direct stake in the union debate, they said. The company has about 3,000 employees in Wisconsin, including workers at a toilet paper factory and gasoline supply terminals. The pending legislation would not directly affect its bottom line. CONTINUED AT: www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22koch.html
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2011 5:14:24 GMT -5
The Koch bros. donated $43,000 to Walker's campaign, so we know who owns him. What we have in Wisconsin & around the country is a deliberate attempt by the right wing to demonize union membership. This is a repeat of what happened in the early & middle part of the last century when union activisim was at it's peak & when unions were accused by McCarthy & others of being run by commies. It's the same tactic, only different players. When millionaire loud mouths like Beck & Limbaugh call union leaders Communists, socialists, & other choice terms it makes my blood boil. When Limbaugh says that public employees contribute nothing to society that just shows what an ignorant slob that he really is. Guys like Beck, Limbaugh & Walker have never gotten their hands dirty in their lives, have no idea what's it's like to actually go out & earn an honest days pay & their telling middle class working people that making $45,000-$50,000 a year plus a few benefits is destroying this country? This is what it's come down to in this counrty. We've reached a new low when middle class working folk are labeled commies because they belong to a union. It's pathetic.
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Post by corner on Feb 28, 2011 9:35:03 GMT -5
It is time to bust the unions. Public employees should be no different than private employees. Pay for your own health care and retirement. we do fool and we also pay taxes income property and other wise and im sure if when you were young you had the chance at civil service you would have jumped at it and hung onto it public employees are not the problem pork barrel spending , entitlements unfunded mandates, and crooked politicians are get off the soap box and realize that public employees provide valuable and needed services and many of us do the jobs most of couldnt or wouldnt do i got the 7knife and 2 bullet scars to prove it!
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Post by dgriffin on Feb 28, 2011 11:28:40 GMT -5
Both my son and son-in-law work for the state. I taught high school for 2 years in the 1990's after retiring from my main career and then spent another 6 years as a public employee. I don't think salaries or benefits are exorbitant, but I do believe they should not outpace community averages. And in any case public employee compensation should never exceed what the public can afford.
I am certainly suspicious of the motives of the Republicans and moneyed interests and Obama was right to warn about scapegoating. But the unions also need to cultivate sanity.
I believe an awful lot of money is going into Wisconsin for union busting and that's unfortunate in light of reports the union has offered significant concessions. But I can't help feel they have brought this plague upon themselves.
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