Mediaboss Marketing

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. A judge on Friday froze an attempt by the expanded Wood River Refinery to hold down an expected property tax increase while the court decides whether two state agencies helped it in violation of Illinois law.

Local governments in and around Roxana claim in a lawsuit filed in Sangamon County that refinery owners, the state Pollution Control Board and the state Environmental Protection Agency shut them out of decisions that could cost schools and other taxing bodies millions of dollars.

Circuit Judge John Schmidt ruled that there are enough questions to "put a freeze" on further action until another hearing.

"I think the pleadings in the case raise a question about whether or not the rules are being followed," Schmidt told attorneys for all the parties.

Schmidt acknowledged imposing "an extraordinary remedy" but said the only way to be sure the tax adjustments were properly approved was to "put a freeze on them, to stop them from moving forward."

The judge ruled that "there are to be no more meetings" on the issue until after an April 25 hearing.

At issue is last year's completion of a $3.8 billion expansion at the oil refinery, owned by WRB Refining LP, in Roxana and Hartford. It is a joint venture of ConocoPhilips and Cenovus Energy Inc.

The business sought to blunt an expected increase in its assessed valuation on which property taxes are based by claiming that the vast majority of its operation is dedicated to pollution control.

A pollution control facility designation means significantly smaller assessment increases, which mean that school districts and other taxing bodies get smaller increases in revenue.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the village of Roxana and the school districts in Roxana, Wood River and East Alton. They say they were not initially aware of the move because the Pollution Control Board and Illinois EPA did not provide proper information and public access to meetings, in violation of the Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act.

Continue reading here:
Tax break frozen as judge hears dispute on assessment of Wood River Refinery

The international human rights organization Freedom House says Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych of systematically eliminating any opposition before parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2012.

"In 2011, Yanukovych launched a systematic campaign to eliminate any viable opposition to the ruling Party of the Regions ahead of parliamentary elections set for 2012. Most importantly, prosecutors brought a series of charges against Tymoshenko, Yanukovych's strongest opponent, in a bid to secure a criminal conviction," stated a Freedom House report, cited by RIA Novosti.

The document reminds readers that in October 2011 Tymoshenko was sentenced to seven years in prison for abuse of authority for signing gas contracts with Russia, a decission the opposition says was politically motivated, although the Ukrainian authorities deny this. Currently Tymoshenko is serving the sentence in a women's prison of Kharkov.

President of the European People's Party (EPP) Wilfried Martens said on Friday that the EPP demands the immediate implementation of a European Court of Human Rights decision, which called for Yulia Tymoshenko's release.

The report also reads that other political prisoners were placed or remained behind bars in 2011, including nine leaders of protests against the administration's tax policies and 14 or more nationalists involved in the beheading of a Stalin monument.

Freedom House also noted that the attempts to mount street protests against the persecution of Tymoshenko and other former government officials, including former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, were met with a heavy police crackdown.

Lutsenko, an ally of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, was arrested in December 2010. In late February he was sentenced to four years in prison for illegally employing and giving an apartment and pension to his former driver, as well as of overspending government funds during Police Day celebrations in 2008 and 2009, when he was in office.

In addition international human rights organization Freedom House noted that working conditions for media in Ukraine got worse. "The constitution guarantees freedoms of speech and expression, and libel is not a criminal offense. Business magnates with varying political interests own and influence many outlets, while local governments often control the local media. Conditions for the media have worsened since Yanukovych's election."

Some 69% of Ukrainians get their news from television and the medium now features fewer alternative points of view, open discussions, and expert opinions, says the report of Freedom House.

The rest is here:
Freedom House: Ukraine President Yanukovych Eliminates Opposition

In January 1999, the world witnessed the end of a century of cheap oil. It then cost less than $20 per barrel. Few predicted it would reach the $100+ levels of today. Some are predicting $500 oil by 2020. This would be devastating for Mauritius, not only for tourism but for most of our industries and our quality of life. Well before this level is reached, it will be cost effective to convert coal into oil, as South Africa has done for decades, causing coal prices to increase too. Is it possible to avoid catastrophe and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels? Mauritius: Island of Dreamers (MID) In contrast to the propaganda trumpeting our green credentials, in reality, our dependence on fossil fuels continues its inexorable rise. Offering generous feed-in-tariffs for the rich to install expensive photovoltaic panels is effectively a tax on the poor. Why not simply wait until they become affordable? Rodrigues already has more wind turbines than its network can cope with and the main island is not so far behind. Extracting significant geothermal energy from extinct volcanoes is unlikely; the geological hotspot moved to Reunion long ago. Despite years of talk, we are still not utilising cold, deep ocean water for air conditioning let alone electricity production. Back to the drawing board? Simple substitutes Fossil fuels, which are essentially stored ancient sunlight, take three forms: solid, liquid and gas; predominantly coal, oil and methane. Mauritius has substitutes for all three. Instead of coal, when the settlers arrived they burned wood from our once ubiquitous forests. Now we burn what replaced them - waste from the sugar industry - bagasse. During the second world war, we used ethanol in our cars but we have been incomprehensibly reticent to recommence. Methane produced in the St Martin treatment plant and at the Mare Chicose landfill is now used to make electricity. However, these substitutes have little impact on our consumption of fossil fuels. Can we do better? Efficient and flexible electricity When fuels burn they release heat as they oxidise into carbon dioxide and water vapour. When internally combusted in car engines, expansion of the hot gases drives pistons, while in aircraft engines the expansion drives a turbine. In a power station, this motive power is converted into electricity by a generator - effectively an electric motor in reverse. In a solid fuel power station, however, the expansion of the gases is wasted and the heat is used to boil water into pressurised steam whose expansion in turn drives a turbine. Because of this intermediate step, steam-based systems are less efficient and less flexible than internal combustion engines, which explains why they are no longer used in ships and trains. Combined-cycle engines that harness gas expansion and residual heat are more efficient still, albeit at the expense of some flexibility. Fuel cells that produce electricity directly from the transfer of electrons during the oxidation reaction have the potential to be even more efficient, but they are still in development. Mauritius has the natural resources to generate an abundance of electricity from wind and solar power, however, these sources are intrinsically variable. Hence, we must either store electricity, which is currently too expensive, or balance variable sources with very flexible ones. Coal/bagasse power stations are simply not up to the task, and oil and methane are destined to become prohibitively expensive. We could ferment all our sugar into ethanol, but a lot of energy is wasted in distillation. Is there an alternative? Grass is greener While sugar-cane is very efficient in utilising sunlight, other plants are even better. Energy grasses are being hybridised to maximise their photosynthetic yield and can produce four times more than sugar-cane. By utilising the same process harnessed at St Marting and Mare Chicose (anaerobic digestion), freshly cut green grass can be biologically converted into methane to produce electricity. Moreover, the residue from the conversion process is an ideal amendment to help restore the fertility of our soils that have been exhausted by centuries of non-stop mono-cropping. Methane can power the most flexible and efficient engines and while it can be stored in tanks, the best approach is to leave the grass growing in the fields and harvest it on an as needed basis. Unlike sugar-cane, the crop can be cut throughout the year. There are currently over 10,000 hectares of abandoned sugar-cane fields which could be utilised to generate income for their owners and electricity for the nation. Modular power plants can be placed throughout the country to minimise the transport of the grass and help balance the grid. Is there a better way to democratise electricity production? As the other small planters see their colleagues realising a better return on investment, they will also convert their cane fields to energy grasses. In a short time, Mauritius can have significant flexible capacity, permitting the integration of a high proportion of wind and solar power. We can become a leader in renewable energy, setting an example to the world. What a story to tell at Rio+20 in June? Freedom from fossils Fossils are not only found in the ground. With a few world-class exceptions, Mauritius has been lamentable at preserving endangered species. However, reserves protecting fossilised thinking are everywhere: within the government, CEB, the university, sugar estates and quasi-religious cults. We can set ourselves free from fossil fuels but not before the dinosaurs become extinct.

See the rest here:
FREEDOM FROM FOSSILS: Fuelling the Future

30 March 2012

The Austrian national council has recently adopted the governments savings package, providing for savings between 2012 and 2016 of around EUR17.3bn (USD22.7bn) and for additional tax revenues of approximately EUR9.2bn, achieved predominantly by closing existing tax loopholes.

As the government plans to swiftly introduce the proposed tax measures, the savings plan has been split into two parts. The first part, providing for planned tax rises, is scheduled to enter into force from April 1, while the second part, containing a raft of savings measures, is due to enter into force a month later on May 1.

Although the governments revenue-based measures are to be achieved mainly by closing existing loopholes in the tax system, the coalitions savings package also provides for a 25% rise in the countrys existing bank tax to EUR625m a year until 2017, to finance the budgetary costs of supporting and securing the long-term survival of the Austrian Volksbank (VAG).

The savings plan also provides for an early lump sum taxation of private pensions.

Defending the governments plans in parliament, Austrias Chancellor Werner Faymann highlighted the fact that, in stark contrast to many other countries, Austria has been able to stabilize its state finances without recourse to either a rise in value-added tax (VAT) or to a cut in pensions.

Alluding to the fact that fourteen out of twenty-seven European Union (EU) member states have elected to increase VAT, Chancellor Faymann explained that the Austrian government had deliberately elected not to do so as such a measure affects the less well off and families most of all.

During the session, members of the opposition warned that the government would not be able to achieve its ambitious savings objectives. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schuble has finally admitted that plans for an EU financial transactions tax, or indeed for any other European levy, are doomed to failure, and Switzerland is clearly reluctant to conclude a tax agreement with Austria, leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FP) Heinz-Christian Strache pointed out.

Dismissing these claims, Chancellor Faymann underscored the need to generate fiscal revenues from the financial sector, insisting that Austria would continue to forcefully push for the tax.

Austrias Vice Chancellor Michael Spindelegger insisted that the envisaged withholding tax deal with Switzerland would go ahead.

Continue reading here:
Austrian Lower House Backs Savings Package

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Disabled Veterans National Foundation, a non-profit veterans service organization dedicated to meeting the needs of men and women who return home after selflessly serving the country, is urging businesses to take advantage of the tax credits available to them for hiring veterans.

Under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, for-profit companies can receive a tax credit of up to $9,500, and tax-exempt organizations a tax credit of up to $6,240, for employing a veteran. The amount varies based on the length of time the veteran has been unemployed, and the amount of first-year wages that will be paid.

DVNF, which provides career assistance to veterans, with particular focus on women veterans and those disabled by their service, is increasing its efforts to educate employers about the benefits of providing jobs to men and women who have returned to civilian life after military duty.

While our initial goal was to assist Veterans with finding and securing jobs, we recognize that employers need support as well, said Raegan Rivers, Chief Administrative Officer of the DVNF. We have resources on our website to help Veterans, and we are available to partner with companies and small businesses to help them connect with Veterans who match their employee needs, and also illustrate to them their benefits for hiring veterans.

The VOW to Hire Heroes Act provides employers with a number of benefits, including:

A tax credit of $5,600 for hiring veterans who have been looking for a job for more than six months, as well as a $2,400 credit for veterans who are unemployed for more than four weeks, but less than six months; and

A tax credit of up to $9,600 for hiring veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been looking for a job for more than six months.

Go here for more information about benefits for employers provided by this Act.

About DVNF: Our Foundation exists to change the lives of men and women who came home wounded or sick after defending our safety and our freedom. A nonprofit 501(c)(3), DVNF was founded in the fall of 2007 by six women veterans to expand their scope of work within the veteran's community. For more information, visit http://www.dvnf.org.

Read this article:
DVNF Urges Businesses to Take Advantage of Financial Benefits and Tax Credits Available to Them for Hiring Veterans