Don't Mess With Taxes

Budgeting is critical for both governments and individuals. 

That financial task was the focus of posts last week at my other tax blog.

On the macro budgeting scene, House Republicans revealed their plan for Uncle Sam's fiscal year 2013 budget. One of the major proposals is to collapse the current ordinary income tax brackets from six to just two. The rates would be 10 percent and 25 percent, but there's no word on proposed income ranges.

Meanwhile, many individuals are struggling to make their money cover all their bills. In some cases, deals are cut with creditors to forgive some of that debt. Such arrangements generally mean you owe taxes on the amount of debt that's written off. But there are some instances where you can avoid taxes on canceled debt.

You can check out new posts each Tuesday and Thursday at my Bankrate Taxes Blog. And if you happen to miss them there, you can find a wrap-up here each Saturday (or in the wee hours of Sunday if I'm running a bit slow or have insomnia!).

You also might find these items of interest:

• Tax treatment of forgiven forclosure debt
• Trading credit card debt for a tax bill
• Two expected Obama fiscal 2013 tax proposals
  already under the microscope