The arrogance of our Congressmember Gary Ackerman never ceases to amaze.

His latest rant concerns the potential demise of his proposed $9 million dollar earmark for the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Adults in Sands Point.

To help balance a $1.7 trillion shortfall this year’s federal budget and begin reducing our $14 trillion plus long term debt, Republicans in Congress have proposed the elimination of all new earmarks. This would save billions of dollars.

Ackerman’s new proposed earmark in Federal Fiscal Year 2011 would be the same amount as in 2010. In the wacky liberal world of Ackerman, this would amount to a cut as costs for the center went up. Source: Newsday “On Long Island No earmarks may mean more cuts” by Reid J. Epstein – Feb. 15).

Millions of American families are balancing their respective household budgets making due with less when one of two wage earners are unemployed or subject to a pay cut at work to save their job. Many are forgoing any wage increases even as household costs go up.

Likewise, millions of American businesses are balancing their budgets with less income. Where is it written in stone that funding must automatically increase each year just because costs go up?

Any good manager in the public or private sector can usually find a way to balance a budget making due with less yet providing the same level of service. The overall operating budget for the Helen Keller National Center is far greater than the potential loss of a $9 million earmark. The majority of their funding comes from voluntary donations made by individuals, foundations and corporations, not Ackerman’s earmark.

Ackerman in the article went on to say “Without earmarks, federal bureaucrats will control more of how such money is distributed nationwide.”

This is a disappointing justification of earmarking based on his belief that he knows the needs of his constituents better than faceless Washington bureaucrats. His comments are an insult to the millions of hard working federal civil servants. It is reminiscent of the late racist Democratic Governor of Alabama and presidential candidate George Wallace who would rail at “Pointed Headed Washington Bureaucrats.”

Similarly, today Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid uses the same derogatory rhetoric when referring to “Green eye shaded Washington bureaucrats” in defending bringing home the bacon to his home state of Nevada.

Most federal aid programs are distributed on a formula basis to states, counties and cities with local recipients. Washington bureaucrats don’t decide how to spend these funds. Civil servants want to make sure dollars are spent for eligible projects, completed on time and within budget with taxpayers receiving the full benefits. Perhaps career civil servants have the independence and technical expertise to do a better job in the distribution of funds and to protect the interests of taxpayers in avoiding any waste, fraud or abuse than members of Congress.

Every year, ordinary Americans combine to donate billions of dollars to thousands of charities such as Helen Keller National Center.

My wife and I make small voluntary donations ranging from $25 to $100 to many such charities. Why do elected officials such as Ackerman, see the need to use tax revenues to fund their own donations to charities?

These are known as member items and in too many cases have in the past really been pork barrel projects. Ackerman makes a comfortable salary of $175,000 per year plus all the benefits of being a member of Congress.

This includes free mailings to constituents, a great health plan, travel, discounted meals and other perks paid for by taxpayers.

Ordinary constituents can only dream of these things. Why can’t Ackerman make his own personal direct charitable donation to Helen Keller National Center?

Just how much money does Ackerman personally donate to charities each year?

Ackerman could dip into his excessive surplus campaign funds to make a donation. He could also host a fundraiser asking some of his several hundred regular campaign donators to support Helen Keller National Center. In addition to financial contributions, millions of Americans also donate time each week to perform volunteer work at their favorite charity. Has Ackerman ever considered doing the same?

Talk is cheap, but individual voluntary actions such as donating money or time speak volumes.

Larry Penner

Great Neck

For more than 25 years, I served under several mayors and many trustees who gave so much of their time. Although I am retired, I still care about the quality of life in our village and the competency and experience of our elected officials.

I have had the pleasure of working with Barbara Alagna for several years when she was secretary to both the (Village of Williston Park) Board of Trustees and the Zoning Board of Appeals. This position was an excellent steppingstone for village trustee. Barbara is a dedicated, organized professional who brings leadership and experience to the board of trustees. She has proven this over the past year.

I urge you to join me on March 15 in electing Barbara Alagna for village trustee.

Rae Caramanica

Retired Clerk-Treasurer,

Williston Park

Apparently (Town of) North Hempstead Supervisor Kaiman and his crew have come up with a new way to pick our pockets.

As if we are not already paying high taxes, the TNH Parking Enforcement is out issuing tickets to home owners.

A few days ago my wife picked up our children at school and dropped them off at home. The enforcement agent must have been hiding in the bushes.

About eight minutes after she parked the car my wife was issued a summons for blocking a driveway. Our own driveway!!

Between the lingering snow piles, and many parked cars on our block (belonging to bus drivers and factory workers from down the block) there was no other place to park for the short time she was at home.

We really don’t have an extra $85, but I guess we’ll have to try and find it.

This sure is a nice way to treat struggling residents.

Just another slap in the face to the people he represents. With the amount of money Kaiman’s making, he apparently doesn’t give a damn about the middle-income residents trying to make ends meet.

Thanks John.

I guess I should just give you access to my assets and you can just take it all.

Just who are we affecting by parking in front of our own driveway?

Thanks again!

Ed Gerbe

New Hyde Park

With the March 15 Williston Park Village elections fast approaching, I would like to offer my strong support for the election of Barbara Alagna as village trustee.

Some years ago I had the privilege of serving on the village board of zoning appeals. At that time, Barbara was serving as secretary to the board.

From my experience working with Barbara, I found her to be a very thorough and hardworking person. Her organizational and detail oriented skills are the perfect combination to serve the residents of Williston Park.

My wife Beverly and I ask for your support and your vote for Barbara Alagna on March 15.

Paul & Beverly Baudo

Williston Park

Representatives from New York State school boards, superintendents and teachers warned state senators that public education would be undermined unless school districts get relief from unfunded mandates before enacting a cap on local property taxes.

They were witnesses invited to address a hearing, “The True Path to Reducing New York’s Real Property Tax Burden: Mandate Relief and Tax Caps,” co-hosted by state Sen. John Flanagan, chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Education, and state Sen. Jack M. Martins, chair of the Standing Committee on Local Government, held at the Nassau County Executive Building in Mineola, Thursday, Feb. 17.

The two senators were joined by as many as five Senate colleagues (including three Democrats) plus an aide to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos – but only the two senators and the Skelos aide were on hand in the afternoon to hear the testimony from the school representatives.

The stated aim of the hearing was  “protecting the quality of education throughout New York State.”

In fact, the question that should be raised is why a tax cap would be needed at all, if the state gives relief from unfunded mandates.

But the senators seemed to be uninterested in anything but imposing the new mandate of a tax cap first, then looking for ways to mitigate the impact of unfunded mandates.

No school district, not even Great Neck, would be immune to savage cuts under that regimen.

The witnesses said that capping school district revenues to 2 percent increases or the CPI (whichever is less) was a mathematical impossibility, given the trend in mandated increases in the three biggest areas: pension contributions, health insurance and special education.

These three categories are local government’s equivalent of the federal government’s quandary over Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

By while these issues are complex and entrenched, the education advocates instead offered a list of ways to significantly and immediately reduce the local property tax burden – the “low hanging fruit” of property-tax relief.

Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Tom Dolan, who noted that unfunded mandates took up 13 percent of his district’s budget,  even provided a list of an even dozen that could be put into effect almost immediately, without adversely impacting students.

There is wide agreement, for example, for the state to repeal the Wicks Law, something that school districts have sought for years. Wicks Law adds about 30 percent to the cost of every major capital project. Eliminating it would not just relieve a significant cost burden on districts, but would help unleash pent-up demand for new construction that could benefit the Long Island economy.

And what about new building? Aging school buildings are hazardous to teachers’ and students’ health and also waste a fortune in energy. Schools spend about $1 billion in energy costs – saving even 25 percent of that, through installing solar panels, motion detectors, better insulation, and so forth would make healthier, more efficient environments, reduce costly absenteeism and save money on utilities.

Ah, but this is the era of breaking down, not building up.

More difficult, perhaps, but widely supported by most of the speakers during the day was repealing the Triborough Amendment to the Taylor Law, a 1982 law which allows an expired labor contract to continue with automatic step increases, until a new contract is agreed upon, which, they say, provides a disincentive for public unions to negotiate.

New York, which still has a Democratic governor, is not going the way of Wisconsin, Ohio and other Republican strongholds that have targeted public unions in order to weaken their political clout. This proposal is aimed at leveling the playing field.

On pension reform, the representatives for the schools urged a change that exempts public employees from paying into the pension program after 10 years.

Mineola Schools Superintendent Michael Nagler said that if this provision were overturned, $900,000 of the $1 million increase in Mineola district’s mandated contribution to pension fund would be paid for, and the district would only have to find $100,000 more, “a manageable amount” he said.

Speakers, though, pointed to entrenched, structural reasons why the cost of funding public schools – which account for 60 to 65 percent of local property tax bills – rises every year, and particularly on Long Island, which is routinely shortchanged on state aid.

“Long Islanders are asked to carry an extraordinary and unfair local tax property tax burden,” Lorraine Deller, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, reminded the senators.

New York State, she said, ranks among the lowest in the nation in percentage of state share of funding  public education – countering Gov. Cuomo’s claim that New York State spends the most on education but still ranks in the bottom third in outcomes, the disparity being in the numbers of students in the state. But even with this low share of state aid, Long Island doesn’t get a fair share. 

This year, Long Island’s state aid as a share of expenses may sink to an historic low, dropping from 32.2 percent in 1989-90 to a projected 21.0 percent in 2011-12. There are but a handful of Long Island school districts that have regained the percentage of expense aid they received in 1989-90. Over this 21-year span, property taxes and budget cuts, along with a brief infusion of federal funding, have backfilled that drop in state support.

Long Island is also discriminated against because of the Regents’ Foundation Aid formula, which will add $1 billion to needy districts while taking away 60 percent of the so-called High Tax allocation to wealthy districts, reducing that funding from $200 million to $80 million.

Former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi lobbied Albany to get our fair share until he became more interested in waging a war on local governments and instituting a property tax cap.

In fact, for the past three years, most school districts have struggled to keep budgets within a hypothetical property tax cap.

“Mineola is excellent example of achieving self-imposed 2 percent tax cap – but even through these efforts, we would not be able to reach 2% cap without cutting programs,” Nagler noted.

But while local governments – villages, towns, counties and cities – have ways to raise revenue through imposing fees, violations, licenses, permits and sales tax (which accounts for 40 percent of Nassau County’s revenue) to compensate for a cap on property taxes,  public schools are entirely dependent on property taxes and state and federal aid.

While Long Island gets 21 percent of its school budget from the state, Great Neck gets less than 4 percent, and must raise 95 percent of its school budget from property taxes, that’s why a property tax cap would be even more devastating than cuts in state aid. But the state’s law purposely does not take into account differences in districts – it’s designed to be a “blunt instrument.”

Deller challenged the property tax cap, saying that it was incompatible with the goal that the senators claimed, of protecting the quality of public education.

But she also challenged the Senators to consider the impact on the regional economy if school districts are forced to lay off workers.

“School districts comprise one of the largest industries on Long island.  They represent 9.2 percent of Long Island’s Gross Regional product.  School districts employ approximately 78,000 persons.  The ripple effect in spending in the local economy from these workers’ salaries is a reported $17 billion.  In turn, these public sector jobs support an additional 53,000 jobs.

“In Year 1, the Cuomo/Senate tax cap, coupled with stagnant revenues, could easily result in the elimination of 3,000 jobs and an indirect loss of an additional 2,600 support jobs.

“School workers and related additional jobs pay federal and state taxes of $5.7 billion.  Sales taxes paid to both counties in 2009 were $345.9 million. 

“It does not take an economist to comprehend the negative impact massive reductions in employment will have on local businesses, real property values, sales and income tax revenues and the still fragile Long Island economy,” Deller said.

She also challenged the property tax cap and declared the requirement for a super majority to override it “undemocratic”.

“The right of a community to determine its educational priorities through its locally elected board of education must be respected” Deller said.

“In imposing its super-majority requirement, the Cuomo/Senate tax cap would wrest local decision making from the community’s voters and turn it over to minority dissidents. 

In a slap at democracy and in direct contradiction to the spirit of the Voting Rights Act, the Cuomo/Senate tax cap would assign greater or lesser value to each individual’s vote.  A supporter of increasing school support beyond the state’s imposed limit would be assigned a vote worth two-thirds.  An opponent of increasing school support would be assigned a vote worth full-value.”

“When pollsters measure support for a cap on property taxes, it should come as no surprise that a majority voice support,” Deller said. “However, when asked whether caps should result in cuts to education, the tide turns.

Last May, Long Islanders took part in the most official of polls – the annual school budget vote.   May 2010 saw an increase in voter turnout of nearly 5,000.  The options put before them were clear.  They were provided with the ability to turn down their school budgets and opt for what was the equivalent of the current Cuomo/Senate Tax Cap – 120 percent of the CPI, which last year was zero.   Voters faced the reality of your tax cap and rejected it overwhelmingly.  

But Senator Martins did not seem moved. 

“We all are well aware of current fiscal state- multi-billion deficit,” he said.  “Here on Long Island, we are grossly and unfairly taxed, property taxes among the highest in the country.

He also said he was unconvinced that cuts to school budgets would impact educational outcomes.

“Money is not the sole barometer of success in the educational system. Certainly at some point we reach a plateau where not just adding money into system, but have to evaluate how we are spending money,” Martins added, using the rhetoric of the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing groups.

Karen Rubin

Long Island Rail Road President Helena Williams has agreed to a comprehensive study on how to best mitigate noise for residents of the Village of Thomaston whose homes would run alongside the proposed extension of a LIRR pocket track, according to a statement from U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman Tuesday.

During a meeting Ackerman held with Williams in his Bayside office on Tuesday, Williams said the LIRR will examine all possibilities and determine which materials would be the best sound absorbing buffer between the new extended track and nearby houses just east of Great Neck station to include density and height of foliage and the composition and height of a possible retaining wall, Ackerman said.

“The residents of Thomaston who would be affected by the extension of the Great Neck pocket track deserve to be heard,” said Ackerman. “I thank Helena Williams for giving me the opportunity to express their concerns, and for understanding the unease of homeowners who would be impacted by this project. I look forward to the LIRR quickly completing its study so that the best course of action can be determined.”

Ackerman said Williams guaranteed that the lengthened pocket track would only be utilized during peak hours, and that no trains would be stored overnight.

In a statement Tuesday, the LIRR said it is “committed to working with the Great Neck community on mitigating any impacts of the proposed pocket track extension and Colonial Road Bridge replacement, including a study of sound absorbing materials that will be conducted as part of the environmental review process for the proposed pocket track extension which will provide immediate benefits and improved service for the 43,000 customers who use the Port Washington branch each day.”

Village of Thomaston Mayor Robert Stern, who has opposed the pocket track extension project and pushed hard for a sound mitigation and environmental study in recent months, said he was grateful to Ackerman for opening discussions with the LIRR.

“I’m heartened at Congressman Ackerman’s report of the meeting with Miss Williams and her willingness to offer consideration for the concerns of the residents of Thomaston,” said Stern, who has served as mayor for 15 years.

Stern has recently complained that after he expressed concerns about the project, the LIRR ignored his requests for further discussions with railroad representatives.

Stern and Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender were contacted before Tuesday’s meeting, but were not present for the discussion with the LIRR.

With increased commuters expected by the LIRR as a result of the track extension, Plaza parking and traffic near the train station could be significantly impacted if the proposed plan goes through – but Celender has had little to say publicly regarding the pocket track extension issue in recent months.

Celender did not return phone or e-mail messages left Wednesday at her office by Blank Slate Media regarding the recent meeting between Ackerman and the LIRR.

Ackerman, a Democrat who represents the 5th Congressional District in Queens and Nassau County, said he plans to meet with local village officials and make the study findings public when complete.

According to the LIRR, the extension of the pocket track, a side track staging area for trains at the Great Neck station, is designed to give the railroad capacity for service to Grand Central Terminal, which the LIRR is set to begin around 2016.

The project, which would lengthen the existing pocket track by 1,200 feet, also includes the replacement of Thomaston’s century-old Colonial Road Bridge, which Stern said is dangerous in its present condition.

E-mail: rjacques@archive.theisland360.com

Congratulations to Herricks wrestler Ryan Singh, Nassau County Division I (large schools) 112-pound champion.

Singh battled his way through the best 25 wrestlers at his weight to emerge on top at the New York State Section VIII (Nassau County) Wrestling Championship Tournament held at Hofstra University Saturday and Sunday Feb. 12 and 13. Singh is the Highlanders’ nineteenth County Champion.

Singh defeated Matt Ishak (Plainedge) and Sam Ward (Locust Valley) on Saturday to advance to the semifinals. Folks were heard to remark that he had looked sluggish and not as good as they had expected. Then at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning he exploded for a dominant whistle-to-whistle major decision victory over MacArthur’s Chris Cataldo in the semis.

“He looks very good, now get him out of here,” Gary Mims told Herricks head coach Cliff Forziat.

Mims, now retired for several years, had been head coach of the Massapequa Chiefs who had attained a national ranking under his stewardship. He and Forziat go back a long way.

“Back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s Gary and I were the main designers of the seeding procedures developed by and for the Nassau County Wrestling Coaches Association, and which has been adopted in part by New York State for the state tournament.,” Forziat noted. “I have always respected Gary’s input, especially back in those years when I served as Section VIII wrestling coordinator.”

With hours of wrestlebacks and consolation matches ahead, the coaches sent Ryan home with brother Vinod (2010) who had come in from Quinnipiac College for the event.

“You may see something different in him,” Damian Garcia said to Forziat regarding Ryan Singh. “But Singh looks to me like a really terrific kid. He’s always very respectful and always presents himself well. All your kids do. Good luck in the finals.”

Garcia is a former Nassau County champion and all-state wrestler out of Long Beach High School. He is currently head coach in Island Trees and NCWCA vice president.

The finals began at 6:30 p.m. with Singh squaring off against highly touted top-seeded John Lanzilotti from Roslyn.

E-mails and text messages streamed in from Herricks wrestling alumni wishing Singh well in the finals. Joe Carranza (1998), Craig Yellin (1994), Rino DiMaria (1988), Louis DiMaria (1992), and Bob Bruschi (1980) were in the house together with a sizeable contingent of Herricks wrestlers and parents yelling encouragement from the stands.

Singh won his 122nd career varsity match by defeating Lanzilotti 7-3 in the finals. Singh is the Nassau County Wrestling Champion at 112 pounds. Singh is qualified to compete in the New York State Championship Wrestling Tournament in Albany Feb. 25 to 26.

Singh was chosen by the other 14 weight class champions to be the Nassau County Champion of Champions, a tremendous singular honor and mark of respect.

The weekend was filled with high points. When Bethpage’s 160 pounder Jermaine John won his championship, the Eagles assistant coach Ben Resnik reminded Bethpage Head Coach Ron Abatelli that it was his turn to bring the cannolis, this time to the state tournament.

Since 1982 each time that Bethpage and Herricks get together whether it be dual match, tournament or scrimmage, they alternate bringing cannolis.

It all started out at the seeding meeting at Baldwin High School for the League Championship Tournament back in 1982. Forziat and then assistant coach Pete Guastella had stopped at a local Baldwin deli to pick up dinner and saw fresh cannolis, and (in a moment of dietary weakness) bought a box of them (it was going to be a long meeting).

Bethpage was in the tournament, and when Abatelli saw the cannolis his mouth watered. The sharing began with Abatelli vowing to bring them the next time that the teams met, and so the alternating began.

“This is the best wrestling tradition ever,” Herricks assistant coach Mike Miller has been heard to exclaim again and again. The large fresh cannolis that Forziat gets at Politos are so good that Abatelli’s wife has him drive up from Bethpage to get them.

Meanwhile, Vinod Singh was smiling all night with pride for his brother’s achievements, and doubly so because Sunday was Vinod’s birthday.

“This is the best birthday present,” he said with a grin as Ryan was having his picture taken with the other champions.

Herricks Middle School coach Jake Phillips had a grin on his face so big we were fearful that the top of his head might fall off.

He sat next to Forziat to coach during Ryan’s finals match in the spotlight during the making of a county champion.

Saturday Phillips had attended a job fair for teaching positions in Harrison, where he received some serious offers for next year.

After the finals Phillips could be observed drifting about the floor of the arena, grin in place, mumbling “this is the greatest weekend.”

Indeed.

SUMMARY OF

RECENT CHANGES

The “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Authorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010” creates unprecedented planning opportunities for the next 22 months. The federal estate tax exemption is $5 million for decedents passing away in 2011 and 2012. Amounts in excess of $5 million will be taxed at a rate of 35 percent.

How, you ask, does this apply to individuals with less than $5 million?

First, the new $5 million exemption amount only applies to the federal tax. New York State residents must still deal with and plan for tax on estates in excess of $1 million.

Next, the $5 million federal exemption is temporary. It is currently scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2012. We cannot be certain what the exemption amount or tax rates will be after that. This is especially true given the fact that 2012 is a presidential election year.

Lastly, the new estate tax threshold can result in unintended consequences for wills created under prior law. For example: If my husband and I did wills in the 1990s when the estate tax threshold was $600,000, we may have a formula tax clause directing “the largest amount that can pass free of federal estate tax into a credit shelter trust.” This formula produced a desirable result at that time. Under the current law, however, pushing the “largest amount free of federal tax” (i.e. everything up to $5 million) into a trust, could result in the surviving spouse being deprived of assets. A better result is described below.

CREDIT SHELTER

TRUST PLANNING

Couples with assets in excess of $1 million should consider implementing credit shelter trusts as part of their estate planning. This will prevent the loss of the New York State tax exemption for the first spouse to die. Just because each spouse has a $1 million credit does not mean that the credits automatically combine to shelter the entire estate up to $2 million.

If, for example, a couple has a combined estate of $1.5 million and they have simple Wills leaving everything to the surviving spouse and the remainder to children, a bad tax consequence will ensue. This is because the unlimited marital deduction prevents the imposition of tax on transfers between spouses. Without any tax liability on the first death, there is no opportunity to utilize the first credit. It, in essence, dies with the first decedent. Upon the death of the second spouse, her estate can only apply her $1 million New York State credit. The result in this example is that $500,000 will be subject to New York State estate tax.

In order to avoid this result, the wills or revocable trusts should contain credit shelter trusts which can operate as follows: husband and wife leave everything to each other with the exception of whatever amount the surviving spouse chooses to disclaim into the credit shelter trust of the first decedent. The survivor has nine months to execute the disclaimer.

There are several different ways to fund the credit shelter trust. I believe that the “disclaimer” method described above is the most flexible. The family has the luxury of waiting until the first death to make a good decision based upon the survivor’s age, health, expenses, as well as the estate tax laws at that future point in time.

PROPERTY SUBJECT

TO TAX

Nearly all assets owned by a decedent or over which he or she retained some control are included in the estate tax base. Just because an asset passes outside of probate does not mean that it passes free of tax.

Death benefits payable through life insurance, IRAs, 401Ks, bank accounts with beneficiary designations and brokerage accounts with “transfer on death” designations will all be taxed to the decedent who owned the asset as of his or her death.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is very important to have your estate planning documents reviewed periodically. I advise my clients to come in every two years or so, to make sure that we are all on the same page.

If your estate is currently less than $1 million, you need not be concerned about state or federal estate taxes at this time. The possibility of future long term care needs, on the other hand, may cause you to consider creating a trust or taking other steps to protect your assets.

If your estate is between $1 and $5 million, you will still need to implement New York State estate tax planning. This planning may include credit shelter trusts as well as an insurance trust to prevent the policy death benefit from being taxed. Remember that life insurance grows income tax free. It does not pass estate tax free unless it is owned by someone or something (a trust) other than the decedent.

If your estate is in excess of $5 million, now is a great time to plan! In addition to the increased estate tax exemption, the lifetime federal gift tax exemption has also been raised to $5 million. This gives us an unprecedented opportunity to push some assets out of one’s taxable estate at today’s low asset valuations. These gifts should not, however, be made directly to children or grandchildren to avoid exposing the assets to their potential liabilities (divorces) or mismanagement. Instead, the assets or fractional shares thereof, can be transferred into a family trust. An added benefit is that all of the post-transfer growth and appreciation will occur free of any future transfer taxes.

Ann-Margaret Carrozza is an estate planning and elder law attorney with offices in Bayside, Glen Cove and Port Jefferson. She can be reached at (516) 741-7870.

I’m probably going to be sorry I did this, but I’ve written another Social Security fact sheet that I’m offering free of charge to my readers. I’m feeling sorry for myself because as many of you know, I’m a one-man show sitting alone at my computer in the corner of the family room in our little retirement cottage. In other words, I don’t have a staff to help answer all my e-mail requests (other than my wife who occasionally pats me on the shoulder and says, “Can I get you something to drink?”).

But frankly, I don’t think I’ll be inundated with requests because this latest fact sheet deals with the political and financial side of Social Security. After working with Social Security issues for over 40 years, I’ve learned that people are mildly interested in those aspects of the program, whereas they are keenly concerned about how Social Security personally impacts them. In other words, they’d much rather know “What’s in it for me?” as opposed to “What’s in it for the country?”

I call this fact sheet, “The Sacred Cow, the Cash Cow, Holy Cow … The Politics, Financing and Future of Social Security.” I wrote it because there is so much confusion and misinformation out there about these subjects. Here are examples of the kinds of rumors, false accusations and half-truths the fact sheet clears up. I’ll bet you’ve heard (and possibly even have spread) some of this aggravating gossip:

— “President Johnson moved Social Security money into the general funds to spend it.”

— “President Bush spent the Social Security surplus to help finance the war in Iraq!”

— “Social Security money has been used to pay for other government programs.”

— “Congress has stolen every nickel of Social Security money and never paid it back!”

— “Social Security’s trust funds are stocked with worthless IOUs!”

Some of those “half truths” are just that. The little kernels of fact they contain have been so distorted over the years that no one knows what to believe. So, the fact sheet cuts through all the muck and misinformation, explains how Social Security really works, describes what’s happened to all the money the system has taken in over the years, and lays out the problems facing its near and long-term future. But then the fact sheet offers proposals for reforming Social Security by giving arguments for and against each possible solution and, more importantly, indicating how effective each proposal is.

So if you would like an electronic copy of this fact sheet, just send an e-mail to thomas.margenau@comcast.net. And as long as my wife keeps those drinks coming, I should be able to get the fact sheet to you within a few days of your request.

Q: Do you want to know how we can fix Social Security? We can force congressmen to pay into the system just like everyone else. If they had to pay Social Security taxes and then someday collect Social Security benefits instead of their cushy government pension, they would fix Social Security tomorrow!

A: This is why I wrote the fact sheet. It’s just one more example of the many misunderstandings people have about Social Security. Members of Congress, along with the president, top government officials and all other federal government employees, have paid into Social Security since 1983. But their Social Security benefit can be supplemented with a federal pension — just like my wife’s Social Security benefit is supplemented by a pension from the county library system she used to work for, and my neighbor’s Social Security benefit is supplemented by his pension from the company he used to work for.

Q: If Congress wouldn’t have messed around with it and added all the extra giveaway programs over the years, Social Security wouldn’t be in the red as it is today. I say take Social Security back to the good old retirement system it started out as. Giveaway programs like disability and SSI should be paid from general funds like any other welfare program.

A: Social Security never really was the “good old retirement system” you seem to think it was. Although the original Social Security Act passed in 1935 was essentially a retirement program, dependent’s benefits and survivor’s benefits were added in 1939, even before the first monthly benefits were paid. And today, those programs still make up the vast majority of Social Security payments.

Disability benefits were added in 1956. But what makes you think of them as “welfare”? People getting Social Security disability have to work and pay taxes to qualify for benefits, just like someone getting retirement benefits. Actually, the Social Security disability program is really just an early retirement benefit for someone who has to stop working prematurely because of a physical or mental impairment.

However, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, added in 1973, is indeed a welfare program. But SSI is not a Social Security program, and its benefits are funded out of general tax revenues, not Social Security taxes. After the SSI law was passed, the government handed the program over to the Social Security Administration to manage because they had experience dealing with similar beneficiaries and they had a vast network of field offices.

Consider this news to be another step in the Tax Accountants Full Employment Act. The latest change in the tax law: The “Kiddie Tax” now applies to much older kids! The new tax law puts a crimp in the plans of wealthy parents who had planned to gift highly appreciated stocks to their college-age children, who could then sell the shares and pay a very low capital gains tax rate based on their low income.

Raising the age threshold until 2005, the tax on a child’s unearned income, such as dividends, interest and capital gains, was paid at the parents’ marginal rate if the child was under age 14. But last year, the age limit was raised, requiring children under age 18 to be taxed at the parents’ rate. And starting in tax year 2008, the age limit will apply to children under age 19 – or to “kiddies” who are full-time students under the age of 24.

(Note: This rule does not apply to “earned income,” such as from a summer job, or even to a baby who earns modeling fees. That earned income can still be reported on a child’s separate return, and taxed at the child’s lower rate.)

The concept of gifting appreciated stock to children who would pay lower tax rates was considered a “loophole” by the pro-tax lobby, who believes all income belongs to the government, and it will decide how much you can keep.

By closing that opportunity, the government expects to collect as much as $1.5 billion in extra tax revenues over the next 10 years.

This “loophole” has been a particularly enticing opportunity in recent years, because of capital-gains rates that have been dropping for those in the lowest two brackets (10 percent and 15 percent).

The maximum capital gains tax rate on assets held for at least one year is 15 percent – no matter what your ordinary income tax bracket (with a few exceptions for collectibles and some other assets). But for those in the lowest two brackets in tax year 2007, the maximum tax on capital gains is only 5 percent.

(For 2007, on an individual return, that 10 percent bracket applies to those who have taxable income less than $7,825. The 15 percent tax bracket tops out at taxable income of $31,850.)

In 2008, it would have been an even better deal, because in 2008, the capital gains tax rates will drop to zero – yes, you read correctly: zero percent – for those in the lowest two tax brackets. This zero rate will be particularly helpful to low-income senior citizens who may have to sell long-held stocks to pay living expenses. Now parents who want to transfer appreciated stocks to low-income kids – who would be able to cash in at the lowest or zero capital gains rates – will find themselves locked out of this deal.

Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst at CCH, says there are a few exceptions: “These kiddie tax rules do not apply to a child who is married and files a joint return. And a new rule says the kiddie tax does not apply if the child’s own earned income provides more than one-half of their support.”

But Luscombe goes on to point out: “This has really frustrated efforts to transfer assets to children to fund college tuition expenses.

But it is still useful for parents who want to transfer assets that their children can hold until the first year after graduation – before they are earning a big salary. Then the grad can sell at his own lower tax rate – and use the proceeds to pay off student loans.”

As long as there is a Congress, there will be new tax rules. And there will be accountants to figure out a way around them.

Surely, we could put all this expensive talent to better use! The flat tax or national sales tax look more appealing every day. And that’s The Savage Truth.

Motorists driving by the frozen pond at the southeast corner of the intersection of Herricks Road and Shelter Rock Road last Sunday may have thought they were seeing an icewater rescue in progress.

In fact, rumors quickly spread that three children had fallen through the ice on the pond, according to Garden City Park Fire Department Chief William Rudnick.

But what motorists were actually seeing, Rudnick said, was a training exercise.

Members of the Garden City Park Fire Department were getting their certification for performing an icewater rescue during the nine-hour training section.

There are nine bodies of water located in their coverage area, Rudnick said, explaining the exercise.

“We trained 33 guys to the level of technician so they can pull people out of the water,” Rudnick said. “We ‘re going into the season now where kids get stuck in the ice.”

The department spent approximately $5,000 on new equipment and wet suits to replace suits that were so old that they were drying out, according to Rudnick.

The 33 members of the department participating in the training exercise conducted by Lifeguard Systems, which certified them to comply with standards set by the National Fire Protection Association.

The volunteer firefighters took turns playing rescuers and victims during the exercise organized by second assistant chief Robert Mirabile, who said it was an exhausting process.

On Saturday, Lifeguard Systems conducted a classroom session with the firefighters and reviewed the rescue exercise techniques before the volunteers went out to the pond.

Now that the firefighters are trained, they’ll be able to assist nearby fire departments, which routinely cooperate with one another on many emergency calls.

“Obviously, now that we the training, we’re available to our neighboring departments that have bodies of water,” Rudnick said.

The history of politics in the 20th century reflects the ascendancy of political propaganda, which helped fuel the social movements that defined the course of human events beginning with the era of the First World War.

The rise of fascism under Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy and Hitler in Germany are among the most obvious examples of political forces fueled by manipulations of mass perception. But the earliest conspicuous examples of carefully conceived ideas intended to push popular opinion in a particular direction are the posters born in the imaginations of Ilych Lenin’s artistic collaborators during the Russian Revolution.

Prime examples of the resulting artwork are in the current exhibit of posters at the Nassau County Museum of Art, on loan from the Arnold A. Saltzman Family Collection through May 8. The exhibit provides an alternately dramatic and comedic literal montage of what the Bolsheviks used to communicate their communist concepts to the largely illiterate populace of provincial Russia.

Lenin’s idea, taken from the writings of Karl Marx, was to heighten the awareness of oppression of the ruling class among the working class, to explode the concepts they had previously accepted about religion and the prevailing social order.

“The worker,” Lenin said, “will not be able to get this true picture from books; he will not find it in current accounts, in still-fresh explanations of things happening at any given moment, about which we speak or whisper among ourselves and which are reflected in such-and-such facts, figures, verdicts, etc. These political revelations, embracing all spheres, are the necessary and fundamental condition to preparing the masses for their revolutionary activity.”

Posters, produced en masse and posted in public places, were a cheap and efficient way of delivering the Bolshevik party line on a range of subjects to all citizens of the fledgling Soviet republic during its formative stages as its revolutionary movement progressed. They were created by some of the foremost Russian artists of the time, including Dmitry Moor and Victor Deni, and the current display of their works at the Nassau County Museum provides a compelling encounter with images that wielded the power to transmit ideas that ultimately transformed Russia from monarchy to another form of fascism in a way that reverberated through the world.

Deni’s viciously satirical image of Lenin “sweeping the garbage off the face of the earth,” as it is captioned in Russian, shows a vividly colored cartoon figure of Lenin standing on the globe with a broom in his hand, brushing caricatures of two monarchs, a fat capitalist and a Russian cleric away like so much rubbish.

Calls to arms, calls to end illiteracy and to improve the social status of women were among the subjects the posters addressed.

A poster reminiscent of World War I recruitment posters shows a Red Army soldier, a rifle in on hand, pointing to the viewer and asking “Have you enlisted with the Reds?”. It intended to draw Russians into the civil war against the counter-revolutionary White Guards.

Another poster showing a red knight slaying a white dragon conveyed the same sense of counter-revolutionary crusade.

A poster circa 1920 shows a knightly figure bearing a torch and a book astride a winged horse, suggesting Pegasus of Greek mythology, delivering a very different message: “Reading and Writing – The path to communism.”

Some posters are rendered in black and white with a gritty realism extolling the heroism of the armed struggle, such as Alexander Aprit’s depiction of soldiers with bayonets fixed, captioned “Chests forward in the defense of Petrograd.”

Perhaps the most haunting image of the collection is Dmitry Moor’s black-and-white rendering of a wizened white figure with arms upraised in a gesture of supplication, over the caption “Help!” meant to inspire donations to aid 30 million Russians in danger of starving during the famine of 1921.

The contrast in styles between posters lauding the idyllic aspirations of the revolution and those conveying the urgency of specific aspects of the Bolshevik social and economic agenda are most striking. The images are not subtle, intended to hit the viewer between the eyes, so to speak, rather than inspire discourse on the finer points of Marxist theory.

“You! Still not a member of the cooperative?” blares one caption under a drawing of an old man with his finger pointed at the observer on a poster bearing an uncanny resemblance to Uncle Sam in American recruitment posters.

Another latter day piece of Soviet propaganda depicts a virtuous worker reaching his hand down to raise up a Russian woman, over the caption “Having destroyed capitalism, the proletariat will destroy prostitution.”

The overriding spirit of Lenin’s cause, aimed at spawning a worldwide workers’ revolt, is also evident in this display of wide-ranging, propagandistic imagery. An angelic figure in a flowing robe drops flowers over a crowd of workers marching with banners raised, over the message, “Long live workers of all countries,” in one poster.

These were the earliest efforts to represent the Russian Revolution as an idealized exercise in social dynamism embodying the most ennobling aspects of the human spirit in the communist vernacular. The reality, of course, in the purges of Lenin and the megalomaniacal Josef Stalin, revealed a far different picture. But propaganda never stopped.

When George Orwell returned from fighting with the loyalists in Spain against Franco’s fascists, he noted with unabashed irony reports in British newspapers of loyalist atrocities committed in battles that he knew from his experience in the trenches had never taken place.

He also knew that Stalin’s efforts to aid the anarchist-grounded revolt in Spain were intended to sabotage a revolution that the Soviet dictator couldn’t tolerate because he hadn’t planned it. The communists denounced the Spanish anarchists, and the revolution fell apart as the western powers joined the Nazis and Italian black-shirts to support Franco.

“History stopped in 1936,” Orwell told his friend, novelist Arthur Koestler, who famously exposed the indoctrination of victims of the first Stalinist purges in “Darkness At Noon.”

Orwell’s invention of a future characterized by propagandists who routinely alter history in “1984” was a warning to a literate society that is now inundated by the inventions of what we benignly call “spin doctors.”

But the first blush of unvarnished propaganda that prefigured Orwell’s bleak vision is hanging on the walls of the Nassau Museum of Art through May 8 in a sobering, provocative exhibition.