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November 04, 2004
Neat Trick Busted
A proposed Amendment 59 lawsuit settlement in Benton County was modified by an alert judge, who is nobody's fool. First, some background. The lawsuit was a result of the county's overcollection of taxes, due to a misinterpretation of a statute if I remember correctly. (There was a similar settlement in Washington County a few years ago.) The county and the suing parties reached a settlement agreement in which the county agreed to repay $2.3 million to taxpayers who opted into the settlement. Sounds pretty standard, right?
Not so much.
The settlement has been presented to the public with the implication that if one opted in, one would be taking money away from the county budget....money that could be spent on other worthwhile projects. That was not entirely accurate.
The settlement calls for attorneys to receive $575,000 and for proven costs not to exceed $20,000, which will be deducted from the $2.3 million. Also, the cost of mailing the notices and administrative costs of refunding the money will be deducted.
The remainder was to be divided among taxpayers who did not return the opt-out white form.
Enter Judge Keith.
After listening to testimony concerning attorney fees, Keith maintained his stance that he could not accept the settlement unless it was modified so all taxpayers would receive a refund.
Keith said he believes each taxpayer should have the opportunity to cash, return or tear up the refund checks. "I’m satisfied the confusion was such that many people sent this (white) form in to give up their interest to county government," Keith said.
The checks will be mailed in April to every taxpayer.
Now that's the way a judge should act.
Posted by Rita at November 4, 2004 07:06 AM
Comments
Rita I'm sorry about the "poor people you don't know" statement. If I remember correctly, you've done some significant legal work for the poor.
I was trying to refer to the problems of a specific group of poor people -- those who can't afford insurance -- and what I said was a general accusation that you don't care about poor people.
The rest of my post stands. I think you're incredibly unrealistic to say "Everyone else can pay for their own, if they want it." No one in the working poor can afford insurance, and a lot of them are in the miserable nowhere zone being too young for medicare, too old to go back to school, and makeing about $1,8000 a year. Tell someone who's making $18,000 a year to pay $5,000 a year for health insurance -- suddenly, they "don't want it."
If ANY risk is worth dispersing throughout society, it's health care. I have a friend who has a massive hernia that pokes through his close and makes him look like he's got a melon under his shirt. He's uninsured (self-employed), and isn't getting that fixed for a long time -- and this is a guy who works 50 hours a week. When he does get it fixed, he's going to have to cough up at least 10 grand. So he just limits his activities, constantly.
The fact that you dismiss him, and the many other people I know and have known without health insurance, as "not wanting it" is very frustrating to me in part because I know you're a somewhat compassionate person. I think you're bullheaded, like many Americans, about the idea of government helping ANYONE. And since the poor don't have lobbying power, the socialism they need is denied -- while we spend absurd amounts of money on the rich, who can lobby for it.
Posted by: Aaron at November 7, 2004 10:11 AM
Aaron, did it ever once occur to you that folks like me are opposed to socialized medicine because:
a. it has never worked effectively in any country that's tried it, and
b. it substantially lowers the quality of health care, and
c. there's better ways to insure the 'working poor', such as simply changing the income limits on Medicare/Medicaid? Or how about letting insurance companies form insurance pools across state lines so that the self-employed could afford insurance?
How about you consider some of the alternatives that have been proposed instead of assuming we're just bad people? The poor don't need socialism, they need education and training.
And stop highjacking my comments. It's rude.
Posted by: rita at November 7, 2004 01:39 PM
Aaron,
What you don't know about Rita would fill a set of encylopedias. She doesn't brag on herself and it wouldn't be right for me to do it for her, but understand, she has done more for defenseless folks than you ever will, for little to no reward.
She doesn't need some snot-nosed puke like you denigrating her, insinuating that she is a "Bad Person" because she disagrees with you.
Show some manners or go home.
Posted by: Mike S at November 7, 2004 06:17 PM
OK, Rita, just wanted to make that known. I'm not trying to hijack anything. Comments weren't working on the other thread for some reason, is all, and I wanted to apoligize/clarify.
Posted by: Aaron at November 7, 2004 07:12 PM