While you’re mining this year’s tax instructions for savings on deductions and credits, don’t forget the special rules that come with your marital status. The so-called “marriage penalty” affects only couples with roughly equal incomes that year. The majority gets an Ozzie-and-Harriet ”marriage bonus.” Here’s a quick guide to the tax quirks [...]
For the economy, the tax deal seems all good news. That’s not only because most workers get a tax cut, in the form of a 2 percent reduction in Social Security taxes next year. The Big Big Boom comes from the fact that the bill is financed entirely by deficit spending – [...]
What was billed as the Great Year-End Tax Wrestle seems to be ending with a whimper instead of a bang. The White House might surrender to the Republicans and their own Democratic conservatives. Odds are, Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy will continue, at a 10-year cost of nearly $700 billion. The revenue loss would [...]
For all the anger about taxes, you’d think that rates had never been so high. In fact, it’s the reverse. They’ve rarely been this low. The median income family of four, earning $75,594, will pay only 4.6 percent of its total income in federal income taxes, after taking exemptions, deductions and tax credits. Last year [...]
Don’t miss the tax cuts and credits offered under President Obama’s stimulus plan. Here’s a brief roundup:
Cars: If you bought a car under the Cash for Clunkers program, you received a voucher worth $3,500 or $4,500. That amount was deducted from the price. No federal income tax is due.
Deductions are also available for state and [...]
