Qtec
03-16-2011, 09:01 PM
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
MIKE TIPPING: <span style='font-size: 14pt'>LePage exempts own pension from budget cutbacks</span>
Mike Tipping
Under Gov. Paul LePage's proposed budget, teachers and other state employees will be required to increase their contributions to the pension system, from 7.65 percent of their salary to 9.65 percent.
<u>One public employee currently paying 7.65 percent, however, won't see an increase.
The governor has exempted himself.</u>
While public employees and teachers face this increase, as well as a raise in the retirement age, a freeze on cost-of-living adjustments for current retirees and a 2 percent cap on future cost of living increases, LePage's personal contribution rate to the retirement system will remain the same, which means he'll be paying $21,420 over four years.
If LePage faced the same increase as state employees, it would cost him $5,880 over his term.
Unlike teachers and state employees, however, the size of the governor's pension doesn't depend on how long he pays into the system. <span style='font-size: 11pt'>As soon as he leaves office, he'll begin receiving a three-eighths of his salary, which works out to $26,600 annually.
For comparison, a Maine teacher would have to work for more than 25 years to receive this level of benefits.</span>
Confidential employees, those that are not represented under union collective bargaining, also are not seeing their salary contributions increased to the same rate. They'll continue to pay just 3.65 percent of their salary to the pension fund.
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>At the same time that most employees <u>are to be forced to increase their contributions,</u> the state will <u>reduce the amount it pays into the retirement fund.</u></span>
Maine currently contributes 5.5 percent of an employee's salary, less than the 6.2 percent it would have to pay if these workers were enrolled in Social Security rather than the more efficient state pension system.
It is difficult, then, to take LePage seriously when he says, "I know some teachers and retirees are struggling, but we need honest and shared solutions to solve our pension problem," as he did last week, or when his spokesperson talked about <span style='font-size: 14pt'>"shared sacrifices" </span>as they announced the budget.
<span style="color: #3333FF">LePage's budget shows <u>the same lack of fairness </u>on a larger scale as well. Last week, LePage's commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Sawin Millett, explained that <u>the money raised from these payment increases on teachers and public employees isn't targeted to shore up the state's pension system, but will instead pay for other budget priorities, <span style='font-size: 14pt'>including $203 million in tax cuts.</span></u></span>
Maine's wealthiest residents will benefit the most from these cuts. One percent of households, those earning more than $360,000, will see their income taxes go down by $2,700. The budget also would double the size of estates that are exempt from the estate tax from $1 million to $2 million, a provision that would benefit only about 550 Maine families and cost the rest of us $30 million.
Overall, <span style='font-size: 17pt'>about half of the benefits of LePage's proposed tax cuts would go to Maine's richest 10 percent </span></div></div>
link (http://www.kjonline.com/opinion/columnists/lepage-exempts-own-pension-from-budget-cutbacks_2011-03-12.html)
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Q
MIKE TIPPING: <span style='font-size: 14pt'>LePage exempts own pension from budget cutbacks</span>
Mike Tipping
Under Gov. Paul LePage's proposed budget, teachers and other state employees will be required to increase their contributions to the pension system, from 7.65 percent of their salary to 9.65 percent.
<u>One public employee currently paying 7.65 percent, however, won't see an increase.
The governor has exempted himself.</u>
While public employees and teachers face this increase, as well as a raise in the retirement age, a freeze on cost-of-living adjustments for current retirees and a 2 percent cap on future cost of living increases, LePage's personal contribution rate to the retirement system will remain the same, which means he'll be paying $21,420 over four years.
If LePage faced the same increase as state employees, it would cost him $5,880 over his term.
Unlike teachers and state employees, however, the size of the governor's pension doesn't depend on how long he pays into the system. <span style='font-size: 11pt'>As soon as he leaves office, he'll begin receiving a three-eighths of his salary, which works out to $26,600 annually.
For comparison, a Maine teacher would have to work for more than 25 years to receive this level of benefits.</span>
Confidential employees, those that are not represented under union collective bargaining, also are not seeing their salary contributions increased to the same rate. They'll continue to pay just 3.65 percent of their salary to the pension fund.
<span style='font-size: 14pt'>At the same time that most employees <u>are to be forced to increase their contributions,</u> the state will <u>reduce the amount it pays into the retirement fund.</u></span>
Maine currently contributes 5.5 percent of an employee's salary, less than the 6.2 percent it would have to pay if these workers were enrolled in Social Security rather than the more efficient state pension system.
It is difficult, then, to take LePage seriously when he says, "I know some teachers and retirees are struggling, but we need honest and shared solutions to solve our pension problem," as he did last week, or when his spokesperson talked about <span style='font-size: 14pt'>"shared sacrifices" </span>as they announced the budget.
<span style="color: #3333FF">LePage's budget shows <u>the same lack of fairness </u>on a larger scale as well. Last week, LePage's commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Sawin Millett, explained that <u>the money raised from these payment increases on teachers and public employees isn't targeted to shore up the state's pension system, but will instead pay for other budget priorities, <span style='font-size: 14pt'>including $203 million in tax cuts.</span></u></span>
Maine's wealthiest residents will benefit the most from these cuts. One percent of households, those earning more than $360,000, will see their income taxes go down by $2,700. The budget also would double the size of estates that are exempt from the estate tax from $1 million to $2 million, a provision that would benefit only about 550 Maine families and cost the rest of us $30 million.
Overall, <span style='font-size: 17pt'>about half of the benefits of LePage's proposed tax cuts would go to Maine's richest 10 percent </span></div></div>
link (http://www.kjonline.com/opinion/columnists/lepage-exempts-own-pension-from-budget-cutbacks_2011-03-12.html)
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