Guinta: Takes aim at Obamacare Cadillac Tax
In a move that’s bound to bring a smile to the face of Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas, First District Congressman and former Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, has introduced a bill that would eliminate the so called Cadillac Tax on employer health plans.
In two thousand thirteen, Gatsas was among the first municipal leaders in the country to flag the cost burdens it would impose on local property tax payers. The tax is an admitted penalty imposed by the feds on health care plans they believe are too good. The forty percent tax on premiums paid above their stated threshold is projected to cost Manchester between five and six million dollars, unless it cuts its employee benefit plans deep enough to avoid the tax. It is slated to slam public and private employers in two thousand eighteen.
Gatsas: Guinta legislation brings smile to his face
Guinta’s bill, H.R. 879 – the Ax the Tax on Middle Class Americans’ Health Plans Act – is the first piece of stand-alone legislation to repeal the Cadillac Tax in the House of Representatives. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Guinta said his legislation would quote “…protect workers from facing this devastating tax increase, employers from reducing workers’ benefits and municipal taxpayers who – if enacted – would experience skyrocketing property taxes. The repeal of this onerous tax has received widespread support from republicans, democrats, national unions and more.” We’ve linked to the bill from this news read at Girard at Large dot com. Guinta will be our guest on Wednesday morning. Be sure to tune in!
Hassan: Difficult choices made?
Governess Margaret Wood Hassan presented her budget to the General Court yesterday and it seems to have gone over like and ill wind through the House Chamber. Both Speaker Shawn Jasper and Senate President Chuck Morse all but declared the budget dead on arrival, recoiling not just at the six and a half percent increase in spending, but also at the proposed tax hikes, particularly on businesses.
Morse: Budget dead on arrival
Hey, it’s only other people’s hard earned money, why not take it away and ensure we go from having the second highest business taxes in the nation to the highest. We’re going to end the story here as an exercise in self restraint, by simply questioning just how the governor can say, with a straight face, that this budget, which includes four million bucks for environmental and engineering work for her proposed shiny, taxpayer provided commuter choo choo, “is a tight budget that reflects difficult choices.”
News from our own backyard continues after this.
The New Hampshire Senate yesterday overturned the recommendation of its Education Committee and passed Senate Bill one oh one, which prohibits the state from requiring the implementation of the Common Core National Standards adopted by the State Board of Education and imposed via the State Department of Education. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Kevin Avard Republican from Nashua said the bill quote “clarifies that local school districts are not required to implement education standards like Common Core locally even if they are adopted by the Department of Education and the State Board of Education,” and that the bill quote “restricts potential state-wide mandates from the Department of Education and State Board of Education, and it affirms that local municipalities maintain control over educational standards in their school districts.” Avard will be our guest on Wednesday where we’ll ask him about this and other bills he’s filed to reign in the board and department of education.
Goffstown schools on Social Media
The Goffstown School District has established a presence on social media. Facebook and Twitter accounts have been created for each of Goffstown schools. The district has created a process to allow teachers, coaches, administrators, and others in its schools to share the great experiences and opportunities their students have. The district said in a media release yesterday, that it created terms of use for the pages and said all who use them will need to comply. Quote “We want our collective experience with Social Media to be positive and productive in sharing information with the community,” said Superintendent Brian Balke. You can access their new Facebook and Twitter pages through the SAU website, the websites of each school or directly through Facebook and Twitter. We’ve linked to their Web site so you can more easily like and follow if you so choose. We’re pleased to say we’re among the first to have liked and followed their new pages!
MPD: Announces Youth Academy
The Manchester Police Department has announced a Youth Leadership Academy. Classes will take place every Tuesday evening from five to seven from March third to April twenty first, except on St. Patrick’s Day, of course, at department headquarters on Valley Street, with a graduation ceremony at City Hall on the twenty first. Graduates will receive Certificates of Completion from the department, and individual resolutions from Mayor Ted Gatsas. Interested applicants between the ages of fifteen and twenty should contact the department’s Community Policing Division by next Friday, February twentieth. We’ve posted the application with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next!
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