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Tennessee
Tax Trouble -- Continued from p. 1 |
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7.4%
to $2.856 Billion of which $1.864 Billion was estimated to come from the
Federal government. Nay, it will come from the same Taxpayers
who are paying the other $1 Billion. Don't forget, there is no money
tree in Washington, D.C. Only Taxpayers earn money. Governments
at all levels simply take it and spend it.
Maryland's prescription drug program may end up costing much more than
expected. The FY2002 budget asked for $38 million for the Pharmacy
Assistance Program. President |
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Bush
has placed into motion a discount card plan for prescriptions, but this
has a fatal flaw. The entire cost of the savings comes from drug
stores and pharmacists, and nothing from the drug manufacturers, according
to two pharmacy groups who filed suit in Federal court. According
to the Wall Street Journal of July 18, 2001, The National
Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists
Association say the 25% discounts do not require the drug manufacturers
to give up a thing, and many local stores will refuse to |
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Status
of Project $1.1 Billion Recovery -- continued from page 1 |
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waiting
for?
One reason to wait might be to see what the Tobacco Fee Arbitration Panel
reports on the Maryland fee arbitration case. They are rumored to
be reporting in August.
The latest information from the Attorney General's Office is that they
will not do anything until the Tobacco Fee Arbitration Panel reports in
late August.
But MTEF has learned that the Maryland Board of Contract Appeals has notified
attorneys for Peter Angelos Law Firm and the Attorney General to submit
papers describing any issues they are to decide by the 18th of August,
and the Board will set a hearing date for oral arguments. |
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Once the Board decides whatever it is that the parties place before it,
the parties can appeal to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City to determine
if the Board was correct. Then new appeals can be taken to the
Court of Special Appeals and on to the Court of Appeals. The entire
process could take another two years.
Meanwhile the Taxpayers will have to pay a larger portion of the bills
for tobacco illness, tobacco illness prevention and education, tobacco
crop substitution, and they will not see any relief from paying medical
bills as a result of the delay in getting the money that Peter Angelos
is claiming.
The
Arbitration Panel was set up at the same time as the settlement |
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with
the tobacco companies. It has another pot of gold from which
the states could pay their attorneys. But first, their attorneys
have to turn in bills and arbitrate the amounts of payments.
Peter Angelos refused to go there for his $1.1 Billion fee, so the Attorney
General's Office had to file for and make written and oral arguments claiming
what a great job Peter Angelos' law firm did for Maryland in order to get
some money back for the effort of suing the tobacco companies.
The Attorney General has already told the Board of Public Works before
they approved the settlement that the amount of the recovery from arbitration
will not cover the Angelos bill. |
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