Legislation: Congress: S.136 – ISA Student Protection Act of 2023

© The Rooster Crows March 22 2023

Bills: File 13 or Write A Check?

THE BILL

S. 136: Introduced by Senator Todd Young (R) A bill to provide a consumer protection framework necessary to support the growth of accessible, affordable, and accountable financing options for postsecondary education, and for other purposes.

THE CONS

“Under an ISA, a student agrees to pay a percentage of their income over a given time period in exchange for tuition payments from nongovernmental sources. When the agreed timeframe ends, the student stops payments regardless of whether the initial amount was paid back to the ISA funder. ” Todd Young

THE PROS

” U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Mark Warner D-Va.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.) reintroduced their bipartisan bill, the ISA Student Protection Act, to support an innovative financing tool for students pursuing postsecondary education called Income Share Agreements (ISAs). The bill would also apply strong consumer protections to safeguard students.” Written by Todd Young

If you want to change the direction of our country, start with positive action by contacting your Representatives. US citizens may find Congressmembers contact information here. https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

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Legislation: State: Indiana HB1004

© The Rooster Crows March 22 2023

Bills: File 13 or Write A Check?

THE BILL

HB 1004: Health care matters. “Allows a credit against an employer’s state tax liability if the employer has adopted a health reimbursement arrangement. Requires certain employers that claim and are allowed the credit to report certain information to the department of insurance. Provides a credit against state tax liability to certain physicians who have an ownership interest in a physician practice and meet other eligibility criteria. Establishes the health care cost oversight board and sets forth duties of the board. https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1004#digest-heading

THE CONS

“As you know, Hoosiers already face some of the highest healthcare costs of any state. The last thing we need are proposals, like those in HB1004, which will impose new taxes on healthcare that will negatively impact consumers and employers across our state – while doing nothing to address high hospital costs.
If we fail to hold hospitals accountable for their primary role in our state’s healthcare affordability crisis, we’ll have achieved nothing.
Not only will HB1004’s new taxes result in higher healthcare costs, but the bill also creates a dangerous precedent that could spread across industries.
Healthcare inflation reached an all-time high last year. Hoosiers like me, don’t need new taxes, like those included in HB1004, making healthcare even more expensive.”

Written by Healthcare Network an Elevance Company. It is the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.
https://healthactionnetwork.com/about/

THE PROS

“HB1004 is designed to bring down costs to the national average, which is 260% of the federal Medicare reimbursement rate. If a nonprofit hospital charges amounts for health care services that exceeded 260% of the federal Medicare reimbursement rate, under HB 1004, the state will assess a penalty against the hospital. Revenue collected from the penalty would be used to pay the state’s share of the cost of Medicaid services.The bill also bans noncompete clauses for physicians while also helping physicians start independent practices.”

Written by Star Press David Penticuff Muncie Star Press
https://www.thestarpress.com/story/news/local/2023/02/16/lawmakers-industry-talking-about-legislation-to-lower-hospital-prices/69902973007/

If you want to change the direction of our country, start with positive action by contacting your Representatives. Indiana residents may find Representative contact information here. https://iga.in.gov/legislative/find-legislators/

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Good Morning March 22 2023 School Standards

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Campaign Funding

© The Rooster Crows March 21 2023

Biden pays for campaign funding through “climate change” legislation for “green” companies.

March 17 2023 “Just this week, the Biden Justice Department went to the Supreme Court to urge it to allow cities and states to inflict outrageous lawsuits against oil companies for allegedly causing global warming.. “

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Good Morning March 21 2023 Sneaking Snacks

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Are We Getting the Bang for Bucks?

Some economist love property taxes. Most citizens hate the thought of them. Afterall, when we purchase an item, especially land, its supposed to be ours without question.

Our system is set up to tax property owners for services we offer to citizens such as police, fire, with school charges usually topping the list. Interestingly, only 56% of first time homeowners had children in 2020 meaning 44% paid school taxes without using the school system.

How did we design this system:

“By the end of the century (1900) thirty-three states had included uniformity clauses in new constitutions or had amended old ones to include the requirement that all property be taxed equally by value.”

How much is collected:

“State and local governments collected a combined $3.5 trillion of general revenues in fiscal year 2019. Local governments collected $1.9 trillion in general revenues in 2019. In 2019 inflation adjusted-dollars, combined state and local general revenue increased from $1.2 trillion in 1977 to $3.5 trillion in 2019, or a 188 percent increase.. ” These numbers do not include Federal taxdollars which is estimated at 31% of local revenues.

Most local revenues, $1. 9 Trillion in 2019, mainly consist of property taxes and transfers (federal and state):

Tax revenue by category chart The Zebra.Com

How do we pay for education on a fair scale? How do we pay for services, including schools other than property tax? Is our system efficiently using property tax dollars? Should property taxes include forced financing of private corporate improvements (economic development/tax credits)?

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A Larger Climate Perspective

© The Rooster Crows March 18 2023

Confusion often leads to questions especially about our climate. Some authoritative figures say that the industrial revolution and its pollution, namely CO2, is causing our planet’s destruction. According to historical charts, that may not be true. Might political parties use our climate as a way to confiscate our money?

Human civilizations started forming around 6,000 years ago. The industrial revolution began picking up steam around 1950 AD where, according to chart 1, is still one of the lowest points of CO2 levels compared to the Millions of years of Earth’s history.

Chart 1

Tell us what good things happen to humans and earth when we experience higher CO2 levels.

Political parties have been known to “take liberties” with the truth. Would they use any means, including using sea levels (drowning), to solidify reelection and raise taxes that benefit the companies they work for? According to Chart 2, Earth’s sea levels naturally rise and fall over the course of time.

Chart 2

CO2 and sea levels are always included in discussiins about earth’s changing climate. Our personal view can only span 100 years or less. When we see a slight change, we naturally take notice but perspective is everything.

The least heard argument concerning our planet’s climate is the acidity of our oceans. Some claim that higher C02 concentrations cause our ocean to become more acidic. But, what about the perspective? Over millions of years, depicted by chart 3, we can see that the acidity of our oceans is hanging tight with the acidity from Millions of years ago.

Chart 3

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Good Morning: March 17, 2023. Men Shopping for Women

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Good Morning: March 16, 2023. The Obvious

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Good Morning: March 15, 2023. The New EV Motocycle Gang

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