Every Wednesday, The Ferguson Group blog will be posting a series of articles published over the previous week that discuss topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!
Municipal Leaders Fear Deficit Reductions Could Impact Bond Exemption
Municipal leaders fear that policy makers will attempt to get rid of the tax exemption on municipal bonds to reduce the deficit in order to avoid the fiscal cliff. Concerns on the longevity of the exemption have been building amongst state and local leaders for years. In 2011 Simpson-Bowles proposed revoking the tax-exempt status of municipal bond earnings and the President suggested capping them. Read More…
Retailers confident online sales tax has vote to pass
Retail groups and supporters are confident that they will be able to get the votes to pass an online sales tax measure, in the last weeks of the 112th Congress. Proponents are concentrating their efforts on the Senate with their powerful backer, Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL). Read More...
Durbin warns against ‘heat of the moment’ entitlement reforms
The Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, announced that he is not willing to put entitlement reforms on the table in the fiscal cliff negations. Durbin says Congress does not have enough time to study the long term impacts of changing these programs, and thus should hold off on making rash decisions. Read More…
Local Governments Strive for Broadband Independence
Minnesota’s small town, Winthrop, is currently fighting to control their own municipally-owned broadband network. Only 150 communities have been able to create city-wide cable or fiber-to-the-home networks in the United States. Read More…
State Savings in Medicaid Expansions Outweigh Costs
According to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, if all 50 states fully expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, they would collectively save more money than they would spend. Read More…
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