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Greetings...
I am very pleased to announce ACPP's first public
forum: Retirement Security or Welfare? The
Destruction of the Public Employees and
Teachers
Retirement Systems.
Hold the date: March 28,
7-8:30pm, in the Wilda Marston Theater of
Anchorage's Loussac Library. Learn why
Alaska's
teachers, police, firefighters, and other public
employees hired after July 1 will have the worst
retirement security of any public employees in
the
nation! Ultimately, this poorly conceived public
policy
decision will affect tens of thousands of Alaskans
and their families across the state. There is no
charge for this event, and light
refreshments will be served after the forum.
One last comment. Do you have
colleagues,
friends, or family who may be interested in the
work
of the Center? If so, you can send a sample
copy of
this newsletter to them via the link at the end of
the
newsletter. Finally, if you have been sent this
newsletter in error, you can permanently
unsubscribe
by clicking on "SafeUnsubscribe" at the bottom of
this
Newsletter. Thanks, and don't forget to visit our blog!
Lawrence D. Weiss Ph.D., M.S., Executive Director
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The Proposed Anchorage Sales Tax: A Troubling Public Policy |
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Proposition 13 will be on the Anchorage ballot
April 4.
I have been following the development of this
proposed Anchorage sales tax; however I am
struck
by the lack of serious analysis and projections
considering the importance of the subject. I have
been forced to rely on various studies that were
done
earlier in Alaska, or were done elsewhere.
However, I
recently obtained some very interesting material
from
Assembly Member Allan Tesche that begins to
provide
some of the missing local, contemporary analysis.
One scenario in Tesche's analysis involves a
senior
whose family home is assessed at $300,000, and
who
qualifies for both the standard property
exemption of
$20,000, and the senior exemption of $150,000.
In
addition, this hypothetical but plausible senior
will
spend about half his retirement incomeof
$38,000 a
year on taxable goods in Anchorage. The bottom
line--this senior will end up paying $50 more per
year
in taxes for the same city services he received
last
year! See Assembly Member Allan Tesche's
complete
analysis which has been reproduced on the
ACPP
Blog, and, for additional information, see all the
relevant blog postings regarding sales and
property
taxes.
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Housing Eludes Working Families in Alaska |
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A lot of Alaskan families simply cannot afford
adequate housing. The following information
comes
from the Out of
Reach
2005 report from the National
Low
Income Housing Coalition:
"In Alaska, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a
two-bedroom apartment is $905 In order to
afford this
level of rent and utilities, without paying more
than
30% of income on housing, a household must
earn
$3,016 monthly or $36,193 annually. Assuming a
40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level
of
income translates into a Housing Wage of
$17.40."
"In Alaska, a minimum wage worker
earns an
hourly wage of $7.15 In order to afford the FMR
for
a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage
earner
must work 97 hours per week, 52 weeks per year.
Or,
a household must include 2.4 minimum wage
earner(s)
working 40 hours per week year-round in order to
make the two bedroom FMR affordable."
Place yourself on the mailing list of the
Alaska
Coalition
on Housing and Homelessness for the latest
information, and to find out how you can
influence
public policy affecting these matters.
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Health Policy Facts for Alaskans |
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Statehealthfacts.org
is a
project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
and
is designed to provide free, up-to-date, and
easy-to-use health data on all 50 states.
Statehealthfacts.org provides data on more than
500
health topics, and all this information is
available
about Alaska, for Alaskans. The site offers loads
of frequently updated information on a variety of
issues including:
- Health Status
- Health Coverage & Uninsured
- Medicaid & SCHIP
- Medicare
- Health Costs & Budgets
- Managed Care & Health Insurance
- Providers & Service Use
- Minority Health
- Women?s Health
- HIV/AIDS
The best part is that all this information is
available
at the click of a couple of buttons for specific information
about Alaska and Alaskans.
| ACPP Quick Links of Interest... |
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