She’s not happy with the salad, but at least she’s got a nutritious food choice. That could change if the current tax bill and its revisions to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is enacted. (Image by Tung Lam from Pixabay) Most tax eyes have been on Washington, D.C., as the House-approved One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) now awaits action in the Senate. Whatever form the final bill takes, it likely will affect states, negatively in many cases as they lose federal aid. One area where states are bracing for tougher times is food assistance programs. The left-leaning Center... Read more →
Food and Drink
FX/FXX TV's spy-turned-private detective Sterling Archer offers his margarita recipe. If, however, you're looking for a drink that's a bit more elaborate that the basic one preferred by the animated (in so, so many ways!) and self-absorbed bon vivant, check out the Food Network's myriad margarita recipes. Happy Cinco de Mayo! Or as we here in Texas know it, an official reason to enjoy a margarita, the state's unofficial mixed drink. No, today is not Mexican Independence Day. That's Sept. 16, a national holiday in Mexico celebrating the country’s independence from Spain. So mark your calendar for another special celebración... Read more →
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on March 27 signed into law a tax bill that, among other things, will phase out the Magnolia State’s income tax. (Photo courtesy Reeves' Facebook page) One day, April 15 Tax Day in Mississippi will be less work for many residents. That’s because last week, the Magnolia State set in place a plan to phase out its income tax. It still will take while, though, before Mississippians feel the full no-tax benefit. Like into the next decade. After some specific phasing down of the tax rates, which is 4.7 percent on 2024 tax year returns now... Read more →
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya While doing my weekly grocery shopping every Tuesday morning, I tend to encounter the same folks, both H-E-B employees and other customers. This week, though, a woman I hadn’t seen before made an impression. I dubbed her the Egg Crier, since she posted herself by the store section holding those products. And in her best town crier form, she personally informed every shopper who picked up a carton — and all those even remotely close to the area — of the cost, noting with some exasperation the current high prices. The dozen Grade A large white... Read more →
Photo by RDNE Stock project Valentine's Day is tomorrow. The annual Feb. 14 celebration of love immediately conjures thoughts of hearts, flowers, chocolate, love songs, rom-coms, and taxes. Yes, taxes. I don’t want to interrupt, at least not too much, your efforts if you’re still nailing down events and gifts for tomorrow. But the following tax considerations might have an impact on your choices for Valentine’s Day. In most cases, it will be state taxes that come into play. And since states don’t impose sales taxes on all goods and services in a uniform manner or at a uniform rate,... Read more →
That will leave a dozen states still taxing at least some food bought by grocery shoppers. My favorite section of my local H-E-B grocery. (Photo by Kay Bell) When you loaded up your grocery cart for your July 4th spread, you probably weren’t thinking about taxes. That’s because most of us live in states that, for the most part, don’t tax food. That’s not the case in 13 states. Those jurisdictions do tack a few percentage points of sales tax on most foodstuffs. But one of those states will join the no-grocery-tax ranks later this summer. In late August, Oklahoma’s... Read more →
…and possibly get a sweet tax break for your gift. Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images There are two kinds of Halloween candy people. There are those who low-ball their trick-or-treater count and end up running out of goodies to give out early in the night's festivities. They turn off the porch and interior lights, and ignore the doorbell ringing by costume clad candy seekers who refuse to bypass any house. Then there are those who buy waaaaay too much candy. Even when they start doubling the handouts to the later goodie-seeking groups, they end up with a lot, a... Read more →
Photo by Kay Bell Do you have your candy for Halloween's trick-or-treaters? Or are you going to have to make another grocery store run to replace the sweets that someone somehow munched early? No judging here. Been there, done that. This week. 😊 And we surreptitious candy snatchers are not alone. Halloween and all its accoutrements, edible and otherwise, is incredibly popular in the United States. This year is expected to be record-setting. Spooky expenses: Total spending for Halloween 2023 is expected to reach a record $12.2 billion, exceeding last year's record of $10.6 billion, according to the National Retail... Read more →
A photo of Chocolate Lab's chocolate lasagna, posted on Yelp in March by a diner. The Denver, Colorado, eatery now is closed, apparently due to delinquent taxes. Even before The Bear started streaming, it was no secret that running a restaurant is difficult. In addition to culinary responsibilities, restauranteurs must tend to zoning issues, health department inspections, and labor concerns. And, of course, there are tax matters. It's that last one that apparently has led to the closure of Denver's only chocolate-centric restaurant. I know, you wish you had made it to the Mile High City to try out Chocolate... Read more →
Ristorante Piccolo in the Georgetown section of the nation's capital offers al fresco dining, when it's open. Currently the business is closed, but not because of its owners tax- and COVID-related guilty pleas this week. It sustained fire damage back in June. (Photo from Piccolo's Facebook page) The restaurant sector was particularly hard hit during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many were able to survive in part thanks to federal emergency relief programs. But some eateries took criminal advantage of Uncle Sam's help. And one such couple this week pleaded guilty to using $738,000 in coronavirus assistance money for... Read more →
Unsplash+ in collaboration with Getty Images Shoppers in 14 states are taking advantage of sales tax holidays in August. Tennessee's back-to-school tax-free event was in late July. But Volunteer State shoppers have another way to escape sales taxes this month. And in September. And in October, too. Tennessee's new Grocery Tax Holiday began at 12:01 a.m. on Aug. 1. Food and food ingredients are exempt from sales tax until 11:59 p.m. Oct. 31. During the three-month grocery tax holiday, shoppers won't have to pay the state's 6.75 percent state and local option sales tax on food and food ingredients. The... Read more →
Great American Park vendor selling frozen treats and beer at a Cincinnati Reds game. (Photo by Chris Metcalf via Flickr CC) Happy MLB Opening Day! No, it's not an official holiday, but it should be. I've been to several Major League Baseball opening days in person over the years. It's great fun. It's also expensive. A ticket to a major league ballpark these days can blow a full grocery budget to bits. And speaking of food, the cost of concessions is outrageous. But since you no longer can bring in food — yes, I'm old enough to remember when we... Read more →
UPDATE, July 24, 2024: Yes, this item originally was published on a prior Margarita Day. But since the main potent potable in that adult beverage is tequila, it’s worth topping off today, National Tequila Day, for another toast. So jot down the recipe offered by the always animated (in every sense of the word) Sterling Archer. It will help the associated federal and state alcohol tax info below go down a bit easier. ¡Salud! FX/FXX TV's spy-turned-private detective Sterling Archer offers his margarita recipe. If, however, you're looking for a drink that's a bit more elaborate that the basic one... Read more →
via GIPHY Seven days from now, many of us will be opening Christmas presents. Hanukkah is underway. Regardless of what or how you celebrate December holidays, your purchases probably increase this month. And this year, inflation, even though it's abated a bit recently, means you have or will pay more for all those gifts, food, and other festive trimmings of the season. Every year, PNC financial services issues its Christmas Price Index, or CPI. It measures, using a methodology similar to Uncle Sam's official CPI, or consumer price index, the current costs of the gifts given in the classic holiday... Read more →
Photo by Kindel Media I am not a fan of camping. Bugs. Sleeping on the ground (see bugs). But I do love campfires, especially when they're used to char marshmallows for s'mores. Apparently so do millions of other people worldwide. And thanks to a United Kingdom tax ruling, that country's fans of this graham cracker-chocolate-marshmallow treat can continue to enjoy the gooey goodies across the pond sans some VAT, or value added tax, charges. A U.K. tax tribunal recently ruled that a British food wholesaler of American snacks is not liable for VAT on its product Mega Marshmallows, which are... Read more →
Photo by Ben Vardi (Ben Vardi, Public Domain) It's the three-day Labor Day holiday weekend marking the end of summer. It's also three straight days of college football games. So, of course, folks are enjoying cookouts and/or tailgating. Both those events typically involve adult beverages, surreptitiously in the case of college football games, depending on where you're holding your "Go Team!" pre-game celebration. Today's multiple Saturday Shout Outs welcome this convergence of the United States' most popular sport and Labor Day weekend. First, there's the legal aspect of booze and parking lot football parties. Intoxalock looks at 5 Alcohol Laws... Read more →
Photo by Zaji Kanamajina on Unsplash Here in the United States, sin taxes were the lone revenue bright spot for many states, at least early during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it's a different story in Japan. Alcohol consumption among younger Japanese already had been dropping pre-COVID, in part due to a national plan launched in the 1990s to reduce alcohol-related health and societal problems. When COVID spread across the globe, drinking in Japan, especially among younger people, dropped even more. The result is that current liquor tax collection in Japan has plummeted. Japan's liquor tax revenue... Read more →
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio These last 2+ years of lingering coronavirus pandemic have prompted some folks to become more adventurous. They've done isolation 180s, now opting to hit the road. Some have even gone as far as to move far, far away from their homes. When U.S. residents make international moves for work, there's one part of the country they keep. They still must file tax returns and pay tax to Treasury on their overseas earnings. Yeah, I know. Not exactly the memento from home you wanted to take on your travels. The good news, though, is that Uncle Sam... Read more →
The biggest nutritional problem the hubby and I have is deciding what to cook for dinner, and then who's going to cook it. Sometime we just opt for what we call foraging, with each of us finding something to eat that night on our own. We are lucky. Our meal hunts are easy, confined to our well-stocked kitchen. However, an estimated 800 million worldwide face food insecurity. That includes an estimated 38 million people, 12 million of whom are children, in the United States, according to 2019 data from the Department of Agriculture. As we celebrate today's 52nd Earth Day,... Read more →
Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels Inflation is the biggest domestic, and political, concern right now. And after months of waiting, the Federal Reserve's expected reaction to rising prices came last week. The board members of the United States' central bank raised interest rates on Wednesday, March 16, for the first time since 2018. The bump of a quarter percentage point to its benchmark rate is the first of expected increases to combat the country's highest inflation in four decades. When all is said and done, most financial observers say the previously near-zero interest rates to be near 2 percent... Read more →