Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
States May Hold Onto Tax Refunds For Months (USA Today)
Residents eager to get their state tax refunds may have a long wait this year: The recession has tied up cash and caused officials in half a dozen states to consider freezing refunds, in one case for as long as five months.
States from New York to Hawaii that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn [...]
NEW LAW: Social Security Turns ‘Bill Collector’ – Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors (Wall Street Journal)
A little-noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old.
Social Security benefits are off-limits to creditors, such as credit-card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to [...]
Dems Try To Out Maneuver GOP By Pairing Health-Care And Student Loan Bills (Wall Street Journal)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that health-care legislation, which House Democrats hope to pass by the end of next week, would also include a proposal to overhaul the nation’s student-loan program.
Tying the student-loan and health-care legislation “has always been part of the plan,” Ms. Pelosi (D., Calif.) said.
House Democrats are readying a two-part strategy [...]
How to Cut College Costs Before Freshman Year (Mainstreet)
It’s bad enough that tuition for a four-year college can cost north of $100,000 – but that’s all the more reason parents should take a hard look at not just college costs, but also at the cost of preparing for college. With SAT tests, study guides, tutoring and advanced placement exams, not to mention fees [...]
Senate Passes $140 Billion Bill Extending Jobless Claims (CNN)
The Senate on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging bill that would push back the deadline to file for extended unemployment insurance until year-end and extends dozens of expired tax breaks.
The bill, passed by a 62-36 vote, is the latest job creation effort to go before lawmakers, though it contains virtually no new initiatives to boost employment. [...]
U.S. Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High (Forbes)
While President Obama’s push to raise federal income taxes for the wealthy gets lots of attention, the continuing upward creep in the sales tax rates imposed by state and local governments has gotten less notice.
But Vertex Inc., which calculates sales tax for Internet sellers, reports that the average general sales tax rate nationwide reached 8.629% [...]
HOW WASHINGTON WORKS: Still Enough ‘Pork’ In Heath Care Bill To Cost Taxpayers Billions (The Washington Post)
Skipping through the Candy Land of the health-care bill, one is tempted to hum a few bars of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”
What a deal. For dealmakers, that is. Not so much for American taxpayers, who have been misled into thinking that the sweetheart deals have been excised.
Not only are the deals still there, but [...]
Retirement Savings In Danger – Most Americans Unprepared (CNN.com)
The percentage of American workers with virtually no retirement savings grew for the third straight year, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The percentage of workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43% in 2010, from 39% in 2009, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s annual Retirement Confidence Survey. That [...]
13 Great Ways to Live Well On Less Money (MSN.com)
Every dollar you spend has consequences elsewhere in your life. Remembering that will change the ways you spend and save.
Can you remember life before $100 sneakers and $5 coffee, when people actually lived on what they earned and still had a little something socked away for a rainy day?
“People moan and groan about why they [...]
Why Filing Your Taxes Late May Be A Good Idea (The Wall Street Journal)
Should you skip filing your tax return on April 15?
Eleven million taxpayers do, and it can be a smart move, especially for people with complex returns.
Those who are in the process of converting taxable Individual Retirement Accounts to tax-free Roth IRAs can use an extension to make money-saving moves. Home buyers who haven’t completed their [...]
