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HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
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Any candidate promising to cut state wages by 7% would have a hard time being elected.
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"In the days before volcanoes were invented, lava had to be hand carried down from the mountains and poured on the sleeping villagers.
This took a great deal of time."
----- Original Message -----
From: AAM Public Relations <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 3:30 pm
Subject: Fw: Walker targets wages and benefits
To: [log in to unmask]
> ********************************************************
>
> HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!
>
> ********************************************************
>
> Walkertargets wages and benefits
> By Matt Pommer
> >>>
> >>>http://dailyreporter.com/blog/2009/11/13/walker-targets-wages-and-benefits/
> >>>
> >>>Republican gubernatorial front-runner Scott Walker is vowing to cut
> state employee wages and benefits to help reduce state taxes on the
> wealthy.
> >>>
> >>>State employees already are feeling a pinch –all are being required
> to take eight days of unpaid furloughs in each year of the current
> biennium. That adds up to about a 3 percent reduction in pay.
> >>>
> >>>“There are just benefits that are woefully out of balance” with the
> private sector, Milwaukee County Executive Walker told reporters.
> >>>
> >>>Direct salaries totaled $3.6 billion or almost 59 percent of the
> $5.2 billion in annual compensation costs for state workers, according
> to the latest report by the state controller’s office. Health
> insurance costs $731 million, according to the report. Pension costs,
> including payments on pension obligation bonds, totaled $504 million,
> the report indicted.
> >>>
> >>>One option to reduce personnel costs would be to require state
> employees to pay half of the annual pension contribution. That would
> shift about $252 million to the workers. Across the state about 97
> percent of pension contributions to the Wisconsin Retirement System
> are paid by state and local governments. Local government workers will
> be interested spectators.
> >>>
> >>>Other fringe costs include unemployment compensation, workers’
> compensation, life insurance, and wage continuation insurance. But
> those are tiny issues compared with pensions and health insurance.
> >>>
> >>>Walkersaid he wants to cut the wages and benefits so the state can
> restore a 60 percent capital gains exemption and eliminate the new
> 7.75 percent tax on income above $300,000 for married couples and
> $150,000 for single taxpayers. Wisconsin ’s capital gains exemption
> (which reduces tax liability) would again be the highest in the nation
> among states with an individual income tax.
> >>>
> >>>Those two tax increases are expected to raise $278.5 million this
> year, helping balance the state budget, according to the nonpartisan
> Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
> >>>
> >>>To pick up enough from state workers using only pay reductions,
> Walker would need to cut state employee salaries by 7.5 percent across
> the board. That would be on top of the 3 percent being saved by the
> current furlough days.
> >>>
> >>>A Republican gubernatorial candidate vowing to slash state employee
> compensation could affect numerous legislative races in 2010.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>Matt Pommer worked as a reporter in Madison for 35 years. He
> comments on state political and policy issues.
> >>>
> >>>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> African Assoc of Madison, Inc
> P O Box 1016
> Madison, WI 53701
> (608) 258-0261
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> www.africanassociation.org
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