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Public Assets Institute, PO Box 942, Montpelier, Vermont 05601.

Public Assets Institute

Update April 2012

In this issue:
-- Toward a People's Budget
-- Crunch time for tax breaks
-- Health care: Next stop, exchanges
-- They just can't leave it alone
-- Mr. Thompson goes to Washington



Toward a People's Budget
With two weeks left in the 2012 legislative session, the Senate Appropriations Committee took an important step toward reconnecting the state budget process with the needs of Vermonters. The committee's proposal (page 64) creates a new statement of purpose for the budget to include "Spending and revenue policies will...recognize every person's need for health, housing, dignified work, education, food, social security, and a healthy environment." The proposal, adapted from the Vermont Workers Center's People's Budget, also instructs the administration to provide an opportunity for public participation during budget development and to prepare an annual current services budget, showing how much it would cost in the next year to fulfill the state's responsibilities under current law. Read Paul Cillo's op-ed.

Crunch time for tax breaks
In the rush to adjournment, lawmakers are working to push through more tax breaks. There is still no public assessment of the adequacy of the state budget, and recommendations for improving the tax system from the Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission sit on a shelf. But there's always time for tax breaks, whether the state can afford them or not.

Health care: Next stop, exchanges
The House and Senate have approved the creation of health insurance exchanges as the next step toward Vermont's ambitious goal of publicly supported health care for all Vermonters. Governor Shumlin has committed to health care cost control as a key part of the reform plan. Critics complain that what Vermont is doing doesn't save money because it only "bends the curve" on rising health care costs. But, as Jack Hoffman explains, bending the curve will in fact save Vermonters money.

They just can't leave it alone
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the passage of Act 60, the landmark school funding law that made educational resources equally available to all Vermont children. In January an independent evaluation found the law to provide "an equitable system" that "is working well and meeting [its] goals." Nevertheless, in each of the last 14 years the Legislature has amended the law, making the biggest change in 2003 with passage of Act 68. We almost made it through this legislative session without further tinkering, but some couldn't resist. The Senate is considering an amendment that would reinstate rebates, reintroducing unnecessary complexity that had been legislated away just a few years ago. Read our blog and a recent Rutland Herald editorial.

Mr. Thompson goes to Washington
Economist Jeffrey Thompson, with whom Public Assets has worked for three years, is leaving the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute to take a job with the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington. Thompson's research on economic development, income inequality, and state tax policy has helped provide a foundation for our work. His latest report concludes that raising state taxes on high-income households does not produce the ill effects some have suggested. We wish him well in his new job.



Public Assets Institute is funded by grants and donations. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to support our work.




Fact: With seven districts left to vote, 97 percent of Vermont school budgets passed on the first try this year.

Source: Vermont School Boards Association



town2town
bringing fiscal data home

Joblessness in 2011
Vermont's average annual unemployment rate dropped in 2011, to 5.6 percent. Rates ranged from 0 percent in Averill and Buel's Gore to more than 22 percent in Norton. Just over half the towns had rates below the state average. A dozen had 10 percent unemployment or higher.

This town2town map shows the 2011 unemployment rate for each Vermont town. Check out your town.



Calendar
Put People First March & Rally
May 1, 2012
1:00PM - 3:00PM
Statehouse, Montpelier

Benefits Listening Sessions
Green Mtn. Care Benefit Design
May and June 2012
Locations around the state



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Public Assets Institute, PO Box 942, Montpelier, Vermont 05601.