Help The Middle ClassNews and Information For The Heart Of America
TAX TIPS: Secrets Your Tax Accountant Won’t Tell You (Yahoo!/Shine)
With the April 15 tax deadline looming, we reached out to CPAs to share their frank insights into filing taxes, audits, extensions, preparers and more!
1. We see many disastrous returns prepared by ill-trained preparers. When selecting a preparer, many people shop price and not experience. We don’t like to knock the competition — however, the [...]
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 [...]
With ObamaCare Looming, Employers Plan To Shift More Health-Care Costs To Workers, Survey Reports (Washington Post)
Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey released Thursday.
Many say they may charge more to cover spouses, tighten eligibility standards for their health plans and dispense financial rewards or penalties based on the results of certain lab tests. At some companies, [...]
Democrats Will Use ‘Reconciliation’ To Pass ObamaCare (Yahoo!)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed today that he plans to use the “reconciliation process” to pass the final changes to the Senate’s health care reform legislation. So… what the heck is it?
Reconciliation is a part of the federal budget process in which debate in the Senate is limited and only a simple majority of [...]
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 [...]
New Gallup Poll Shows Reasons People Oppose Health Care Reform (Newsweek)
One number in this new Gallup poll on health-care reform caught my eye, because, oddly, it has good news for both sides of the debate. Gallup asked the 48% of people who oppose health care reform about why they’re against the Democrats’; plans. The most popular reason, cited by 20% of people, was a concern [...]
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% [...]
