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Federal
Government News
 Americans
worked 123 days this year to earn enough to pay taxes
Americans
celebrated Tax Freedom Day on Thursday, according to the Tax
Foundation's annual calculation. That means the nation’s
taxpayers had to work from Jan. 1 to the 123rd day of the year
before earning enough money to pay for federal, state and
local government taxes.
In North Carolina, where the state and local tax burden is a
little less than the national average, Tax Freedom Day came on
April 27. North Carolina ranks 34th in the national in
combined state and local tax burden.
"Since 1992, when Tax Freedom Day fell on April 18, the
total tax burden has grown markedly, requiring two extra weeks
of work from American taxpayers,” said Tax Foundation
economist Scott Moody. “With state-local tax burdens
virtually unchanged in the last decade, the increase is
entirely due to the rapid growth of federal tax
collections."
Not since the era of the
Vietnam War and President Johnson’s "Great
Society" programs has the tax burden been increased so
much in such a short span of years, the Tax Foundation said.
Individual income taxes represent the largest component of
Americans’ tax bills. In 2001, Americans will have to work
an average of 50 days to pay these taxes. Another 29 days will
be spent working to pay payroll taxes, which fund social
insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
Some taxes are less apparent
than income and payroll taxes. Foremost among these
"hidden taxes" are sales and excise taxes. Americans
will work 16 days to pay these add-on taxes. Another 10 days
will be spent working to pay property taxes, mostly levied by
local governments. Americans will then have to work an
additional 12 days to pay their share of corporate income
taxes, which are collected from companies but ultimately paid
by consumers, employees, and shareholders. Finally, Americans
will spend five days working to pay other business and
miscellaneous taxes.
Raleigh,
Fayetteville awarded EPA brownfield grants
The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded $1 million to
Raleigh and $150,000 to Fayetteville to remediate old
industrial sites as part of the agency’s brownfields pilot
grants. With the help of these grants, state and local
officials will compile information that will be used to
attract potential developers for the locations. In addition,
this year's assessment grants include provisions for the
evaluation, protection and preservation of "green
space"-- parks, playgrounds, trails, gardens, habitat
restoration, and open space -- on revitalized brownfield
sites.
Raleigh's objective is to clean up properties in Southeast and
downtown Raleigh. By targeting the development zones, the city
hopes to increase the reach of its current redevelopment and
cleanup programs. In addition, redeveloping brownfields in
these areas will curb urban sprawl and enhance inner city
economic prosperity by encouraging businesses to locate near
the urban core. The brownfields grant will help Raleigh
continue its efforts to facilitate equitable, environmentally
sustainable economic development, increase the quality of
employment opportunities, and improve the lives of residents
in lower-income and minority areas.
Fayetteville plans to use its $150,000 EPA grant to continue
the activities of an earlier assessment pilot. These plans
include: conducting environmental assessments on the two newly
targeted sites; conducting community outreach for the targeted
sites; conducting a feasibility study of potential cleanup
alternatives for the former MGP site; and preparing a cleanup
action and design plan for implementing the selected cleanup
alternative for the former MGP site.
EPA defines brownfields as abandoned, idled, or under-used
industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or
redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived
environmental contamination. EPA's brownfields economic
redevelopment initiative is an organized commitment to help
communities revitalize such properties environmentally and
economically, mitigate potential health risks and restore
economic vitality to areas where brownfields exist.
Length
of hospitalizations declines markedly
The
average length of a hospital stay continues declining in the
United States, according to a new report from the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, which said the average
hospitalization was 5.0 days in 1999, down from 7.3 days in
1980.
The drop in inpatient
hospitalization is attributed primarily to an increase in
ambulatory or same-day surgery, made possible over the past 20
years with new surgical techniques and less invasive
procedures. Treatment advances including new drug therapies
have also contributed to fewer and shorter hospital stays as
have as cost-management controls and alternative forms of
health care organization and payment.
In 1980, the rate of
hospitalization was 168 per 1,000 population. That rate
dropped nearly 30 percent to 122 per 1,000 population in 1990
and was 116 per 1,000 in 1999. Between 1990 and 1999, the
discharge rate among the 15-44 year-olds decreased 17 percent
and the rate among those 45 to 64 was down 14 percent, but
this was more than offset by an 11 percent increase for those
65 and older, to keep the overall rate fairly constant during
the 1990s.
Women were hospitalized at a
rate 45 percent higher than for men in 1999 (due in part to
hospitalization for deliveries and other obstetric and
gynecological diagnoses), but men had slightly longer hospital
stays. The hospitalization rate varied widely by region, from
93 per 1,000 in the West to 133 in the Northeast.
Six diagnostic categories –
heart disease, delivery, pneumonia, cancer, psychoses and
fractures -- accounted for more than 13 million of the 32
million hospitalizations in 1999. Heart disease was the most
frequent cause of hospitalization with 4.5 million discharges.
Coronary atherosclerosis –a type of heart disease –
accounted for over 1 million discharges; the number and rate
of coronary atherosclerosis diagnoses more than doubled during
the 1990s. Among those over 65, the rate more than tripled.
Cost of
employee benefits rises to 36.8% of payroll
Employee
benefits made up more than one-third of company payrolls in
1999, with health insurance the most expensive single benefit
cost, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
“Employers continue to make a major investment in employee
benefits as an indispensable employee retention tool in
today’s tight labor market,” said Dr. Martin Regalia,
chamber vice president and chief economist. NCCBI is the state
affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Employee benefits cost employers an additional 36.8 percent
over wages in 1999, or an average of $14,060 per employee,
according to the chamber’s Employee Benefits Study.
Medical insurance premiums were the highest-cost single
benefit, about one-fifth of total benefits (an average of
$2,777 per employee), more than federal payroll taxes (an
average of $2,666 per employee). Paid-time-off –
vacations, holidays and sick leave combined – accounted for
about one-third of all benefits (an average of $4,113 per
employee).
In addition, the study found that benefit costs were nearly
one-fifth higher in metropolitan areas, averaging 40 percent
of payroll for metropolitan-based companies, versus 34 percent
for companies in non-metropolitan areas. Metropolitan-based
companies reported higher costs for paid-time-off and
retirement and savings plan benefits, while non-metropolitan
companies reported higher medical benefit costs.
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