IS IT TRUE May 9, 2013
IS IT TRUE Muncie, Indiana Mayor Dennis Tyler and the Muncie City Council are hoping what is being described as a property tax disaster might not be as bad as it appears?…it was only yesterday that it was discovered and report that it is possible that a $9 million shortfall in property tax revenue for this year will impact the combined budgets of Delaware County, the City of Muncie, and the school corporation that serves both?…$6 Million of those dollars are identified as being a shortfall to the City of Muncie alone?…the problem in Muncie has been traced to a legislative change in the verification of every homesteaded property in the State of Indiana?…the Legislature instructed the auditors of each county to send “pink†forms to all homesteaded properties to verify the homeowner still lives in the home and is entitled to the exemption?…the changes and the declassification of homesteaded properties that failed to respond after 5 notices forced many properties below the circuit breaker caps implemented constitutionally by Indiana cap residential property taxes at 1% of assessed value per year?…yesterday it was revealed that Muncie is having a budget shortfall but it is widely expected that many other cities including Evansville are about to learn that they will have multi-million holes blown in their budgets THIS YEAR?
IS IT TRUE if as expected the City of Evansville will be impacted proportionally to Muncie that there could be as much as a $10 Million shortfall in the current budget?…this will not be the first time that Mayor Lloyd Winnecke who is currently touring Amsterdam and Osnabruck in Germany has been stung by something attached to the Homestead Tax Credit?…in 2009 it was now Mayor Winnecke who honored the request of his buddy then Mayor Weinzapfel and called the now infamous meeting where Vanderburgh County became the only county in Indiana to eliminate the Homestead Tax Credit by silence and inaction?…this all worked out when the City County Observer exposed this sneaky scheme and the Governor Mitch Daniels came in at the last minute to reinstate the Homestead Tax Credit for the homeowners of Vanderburgh County?…it is truly ironic that the Winnecke Administration may be dealing with a cash shortfall due to the Homestead Tax Credit coming back to bite them on the backside?
IS IT TRUE that at this point the authors of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) are taking every opportunity to distance themselves from this bill that has been characterized by its principle author as “AN IMPLEMENTATION TRAINWRECKâ€?…that author, Senator Max Baucus is so afraid of what is about to happen the he is not even going to run to keep his seat next year?…ObamaCare that was touted as saving each American family $2,500 per year is now on track to increase health insurance premiums by about $3,500 per year on the average family that now only earns about $51,000 per year down from $55,000 in 2009?…this $6,000 reverse of fortune for the average American family amounts to a 12% pre tax pay cut on top of the $4,000 real pay cut they have already absorbed?…ObamaCare must not be fooling anyone in the United States Congress though because it was recently revealed that they are making haste to EXEMPT THEMSELVES AND THEIR STAFFS FROM IT?…if this action is taken the American people should resolve to never return even one person who “VOTED FOR IT SO THEY COULD FIND OUT WHAT WAS IN ITâ€?…this unintended (maybe) monstrosity makes the bumblings of local government in Evansville look like child’s play?…it is time to institute the age old activity of reading, learning, and thinking things through back into government of all levels?…the things that only government can do are too important to leave the execution of these tasks to scatter brained narcissists?
It’s really very simple. We pay MORE for LOWER QUALITY healthcare in this country than most of the developed world. Why not do something about it? The leading cause of bankruptcy is getting sick. Not buying a boat, not being irresponsible, but getting sick. That’s something that could happen to anyone. Why just stay with a bad system? Blind hatred and partisanship? Or is it protecting big business and big campaign donors?
Apparently the people who designed ACA now see it as a looming failure. So do we break the inefficient and unfair system that we have to adopt one that is even less efficient and really does not extend coverage as it was advertise? Why not take a step back and delay the implementation a few more years until some team that reads and has the ability to think cognitively can repair this 2014 space shuttle before it explodes upon take off. I think the answer to you last two sentences is all of the above. Hatred and partisanship on both sides created this monster and both parties are committed to serving their donors.
What you say is 100% true. We rank about 40th in health outcomes worldwide but #1 (by a wide margin) in per capita spending.
Part of this is due to poor public health education and individual lifestyle choices (i.e., sedentary lifestyles, obesity, diabetes, etc.).
Part of it is structural–our system was set up to drive usage of the highest cost services, such as acute care or emergency care. The Affordable Care act will help with this, partly because of the insurance mandates but moreso because of the incentives it offers to our private healthcare providers (and payors).
Under the Accountable Care provisions of the Act, providers will now be REQUIRED to share information with each other in order to meet the so-called Triple Aim:
1) Improve outcomes
2) Reduce cost
3) Improve patient experience
If nursing homes, rehab centers, and hospitals don’t successfully lower re-admission rates, for instance, they will be penalized up to 5% of Medicare reimbursements–that is a HUUUUUUUGGGGGEEEE number. On the flip side, if they beat the benchmarks, they will get a bonus for it.
Don’t underestimate what a massive change this is for the system. It will end up benefitting everyone, especially taxpayers and healthcare consumers.
Sewers before Stadiums!
Woot-woot!
YOU MUST FILE YOUR HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION VERIFICATION!
December 3, 2010 by kim carpenter · Leave a Comment
Did you see a PINK form in with your property tax statement? DO NOT THROW IT AWAY OR FILE IT AWAY!
PLEASE PAY ATTENTION: EVERY INDIVIDUAL OR MARRIED COUPLE CURRENTLY CLAIMING THE HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION ON THEIR PROPERTY TAXES MUST COMPLETE THE FORM AND RETURN IT TO THE COUNTY PER THE INSTRUCTIONS INCLUDED ON THE FORM!
If you are like most homeowners, your property taxes are paid by your mortgage company and you usually open the statement and file it away like I do.
Who: Every individual or married couple currently claiming the homestead deduction will receive the form. (Some counties may choose to mail the form to every taxpayer, even those not claiming the homestead deduction.)
What: The pink form included with tax bills
When: The homestead verification form will be mailed with 2010, 2011, and 2012 tax bills and MUST be completed at least once by January 1, 2013.
Where: Follow the instructions included on the form.
Why: If you are claiming the deduction you must complete the pink form to verify eligibility and to provide identification numbers (the last five digits of both driver’s license and social security numbers of both spouses), which will be used to populate a secure homestead database and prevent homestead fraud.
Beginning in 2010, House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1344-2009 requires the tax statement to include a form that allows taxpayers to verify their residency and eligibility for the homestead deduction. Each individual (and his or her spouse, if any) claiming the homestead deduction also is required to provide the last five digits of his or her social security number and driver’s license number. This information will be used to populate a secure homestead database, which will be used by county auditors to track homesteads statewide and prevent fraud. This will help reduce taxes for all ensuring that everyone shares equally in the property tax burden. For more information click here.
If you no longer use this home as your primary residence, please complete the Certified Statement to remove the homestead exemption from your property. Individuals and married couples are limited to one homestead exemption.
It is imperative that you do this by January 1, 2013!! If you do not, you will miss out on the benefits of the homestead exemption which reduces the taxable assessed value of the homestead portion of a property by the lesser of 60 percent or $45,000 . In addition, those receiving the standard deduction, automatically receive the supplemental homestead deduction, the 1 percent circuit breaker cap and any state or local homestead credits.
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I am a bit fuzzy about what is going on here, but who would not send in their “pink form” after 5 notices to do so?
Are you saying that this shortfall in revenue is being caused by fraud on the part of people who had been receiving Homestead Exemptions until the “pink forms” were sent out, and for some reason they did not want to pursue their homestead exemption request any longer?
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PEW CHARITABLE TRUST
American Cities Project
Executive Summary
http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2012/Local_Squeeze_executive_summary.pdf
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thestarpress.com
This is an email sent by Delaware County Auditor Judy Rust to the taxing units in her county:
From the email:
“….Now changes have happened at the legislative level and it has impacted the circuit breaker credits, forcing them to be overall much higher this year. Either could impact your unit based on the type of properties which dominate your taxing unit.
“The Legislature dropped the agricultural credit from any land which is not being tilled leaving the credit for only the tilled farm land in your unit.
“The Legislature instructed the auditors of each county to send “pink†forms to all homesteaded properties to verify the homeowner still lives in the home and is entitled to the exemption. We did this to all homesteaded properties as instructed over the past 3 years. This came to an end 12/31/12 and per the state statute we removed those homesteads (3,800) on parcels where no one responded after five notifications (one more than the legislature instructed). We removed 3,800 homesteads with the majority of them in Center Township.
“Both of these changes have forced parcels below the tax caps (1, 2 and 3) up and over the tax cap (making more credits possible as a result) or making more of a credit for your unit if the parcel was already over the cap (making more credit to be considered). The properties which were under the cap and were forced up (and over) the cap generated more revenue (by some people paying more). But on the flip side is the caps could be greater than last year because of the cap increases thus a larger credit.â€
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I enjoy single payer healthcare … Medicare … now that I’m 65. And I love it! Cost is minimal, in my opinion, and I continue to enjoy the same services from the same doctors as I did when on the excellent healthcare insurance I had from Vanderburgh County.
I wish every U.S. citizen could enjoy single payer Medicare. I wonder what the withholding tax would have to be to extend Medicare to all U.S. citizen. Probably not that much. What do you think? 4% more or less?
And it wouldn’t be so damned complicated as Obamacare, would it? And it wouldn’t be as big a sell-out to Big Pharm and the Mega-Medical Insurance industry as was Obamacare, now would it? I guess the biggest objection to single payer, universal healthcare is something to do with looking too much like the industrial nations of Europe?
Thumbs up!
Medicare may be the single best program the US government ever created. Unfortunately, it’s in the process of being gutted because it is not sustainable in the long term unless we make structural changes to the entire provider continuum.
The Medicare Replacement plans and Managed Care are trojan horses–CMS is just using them to beat up on providers and consumers alike (ie, lowering reimbursement rates, reducing coverage, increasing co-pays, etc.). Eventually, Medicare itself is going to end up looking a lot more like these programs.
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