Happy Easter weekend to all who celebrate. I've always enjoyed the more secular activities, like my neighborhood's annual Easter egg hunt. I always get a kick out of watching the youngsters scramble to fill their baskets with colorful eggs. Today’s hunts feature multi-hued plastic eggs, which is a good change from the targets of my childhood. I still remember finding stinky spoiled real, dyed eggs that were overlooked during the original quest. And yes, in my (geezer alert!) day, parents actually hid the eggs, instead of just scattering them across open areas. I also remember my mother not being thrilled... Read more →
Tax rates
Most Americans believe that the wealthy, who have disposable income for things like pet accoutrements, should pay taxes at a higher rate. ( Photo by Pet foto) There’s word out of Washington that the White House might consider raising taxes on the wealthiest taxpayers in order to offset a Donald J. Trump campaign promise to end taxes on tip income. Nothing is finalized. And talk is particularly cheap on Capitol Hill. gratuities. But if Republicans in Congress do go along with that tax tradeoff as they work on expanding the 2017 tax cuts that expire at the end of this... Read more →
Most of these birthday celebrants at an Austin-area senior citizens' center are enjoying the shared festivities. Maybe the man on the right is worried about his upcoming RMD. (Photo by Kay Bell) Did you celebrate your 73rd birthday last year? Congratulations and belated best wishes. The Internal Revenue Service also applauds your milestone, but partly for selfish reasons. Individuals who have certain tax-deferred retirement plans must start withdrawing some of those funds and pay tax due on the amounts once they turn 73. These required minimum distributions (RMDs) are annual. But you can delay your first withdrawal until April 1... 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 The Republican party has long opposed the federal estate tax, or as its members call it, the Death Tax. Bills are regularly introduced to kill the tax. Eliminating it even made it into the GOP-led House Budget Committee working paper on extending the tax cuts enacted the last time Donald J. Trump was president. Now, however, that committee’s chairman has decided that a, dare we say, more conservative approach would be better. Rather than eliminate the tax, he’s introduced a bill that would cut the current 40 percent estate tax rate in half. Short-lived tax... Read more →
Pixabay Every season, most U.S. residents do double duty. In addition to filing a federal tax return with the Internal Revenue Service, they also must file a state tax return. We lucky, federal-only filers live in one of the eight states that don't tax any individual income. They are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire (which just joined the group on Jan. 1, 2025), South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. Residents of Washington state don't have to pay tax on wages, but some face a tax on capital gains. In the rest of the country, individual income taxes are a major... Read more →
Photo by Lara Jameson Change is a constant when it comes to life. And since taxes are a big part of life, that means we deal with tax code changes, too. At the federal level, that happens automatically every year when the Internal Revenue Service makes inflation adjustments to a wide variety of existing laws. Congress also tends to get involved. That didn’t happen so much in 2024. Perhaps Capitol Hill lawmakers were saving up for this year’s coming tax battles over expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act individual tax provisions. Then we have state taxes. There usually are changes... Read more →
AARP While we were ringing in 2025, some new tax laws took effect when the clock officially clicked over to Jan. 1. Since I know many of you, and by you I mean me, have hangovers from eating, drinking and/or just plain staying up way past your normal bedtime last night (I'm guilty of all three!), I’m going to ease into the tax news on this first day of the brand New Year. I’m starting with a couple of reminders of tax changes announced as last year was winding down. You got it. The Internal Revenue Service's annual inflation adjustments... Read more →
Photo by Tatyana Mazepova It’s the holiday season, so many of us have travel on our minds. That includes the Internal Revenue Service. AAA expects 2.5 million more people will be on the roads for the year-end holiday period, which is classifies as Saturday, Dec. 21 to Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. That comes to a total of 107 million people making a road trip of 50 miles or more, just shy of the record 108 million drivers in 2019. But Uncle Sam’s tax collector isn’t narrowly focused on who is hitting the highways over the next few days. The IRS,... Read more →
Photo by Anna Nekrashevich I know, this month started off with 10 tax moves to make, or at least consider, by Dec. 31. With 2024 winding down, I wanted to remind you of those suggestions again. And now, because nagging reminding is just part of who I am, I have a couple more things you might want to think about. Specifically, you need to look at some of the tax numbers that will come into play when you file your return next year. This includes the tax brackets — rates and dollar amounts to which they apply — that will... Read more →
Osarugue Igbinoba via Unsplash+ We're just weeks from New Year's Resolutions. Most of them involve ending bad habits, like smoking. Taxes already have helped here. Studies have shown people tend to give up this form of tobacco as the price of a pack of cigarettes increased due to states’ added excise taxes. That’s particularly true of young smokers who have less disposable income. Other nicotine addicts, however, find workarounds. While this tactic may satisfy their cravings, it damages the smokers’ health, stresses our medical systems due to increased smoking-related illnesses, and costs states needed revenue. Tobacco taxes tie smuggling: One... Read more →
Five turkeys might not technically be enough to be classified a rafter or gang or death row of turkeys — and yes, all are among the many collective nouns for a gathering of this particular fowl — but these birds represent today's fifth and final Tax Turkey to Avoid. (Photo by Chris Henry on Unsplash) Are you enjoying your Thanksgiving break? Maybe time off from work this week has you thinking about when you can leave the 9-to-5 completely. Whenever that happens, you’ll want to have enough of a nest egg to enjoy your retirement. That will be possible if... Read more →
Before law changes, the now inflation-indexed Alternative Minimum Tax, known as the AMT, seemed to work like an ATM for the U.S. Treasury. When the AMT was created in 1969 to ensure wealthy individuals paid at least some tax, it wasn't indexed for inflation. Until that changed with the 2017 tax reform law, the AMT adversely affected a lot of less-wealthy taxpayers. (Photo by Ali Mkumbwa on Unsplash) What's worse than figuring your tax bill? Having to figure a second, higher, parallel amount you might owe. That's a situation that taxpayers who owe the Alternative Minimum Tax, or AMT, end... Read more →
Plus, a look at what next year’s inflation bumps mean to estate planning, gifts you give before you go, youngsters' investment earnings, and more. Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Great Gatsby," the 2018 movie version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel. (Warner Brothers Pictures promotional photo) “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” F. Scott Fitzgerald didn’t add taxes in his elaboration of those differences in his 1925 short story “The Rich Boy,” but he could have. While most of us middle-income taxpayers get our money working for wages, wealthier individuals tend to let... Read more →
Sometimes you can feel like you’re in over your head when it comes to all the annual tax changes. Well, the ol’ blog is here to be your life preserver, parceling out the 2025 inflation adjustments in a 10-post series. This first segment is on next year’s tax brackets. (Photo by Kalina O. on Unsplash) Inflation and taxes are two things most of us really, really don’t like. But sometimes, together they can be to our benefit. Today is one of those times. The Internal Revenue Service announced its annual inflation adjustments for a variety of tax provisions that will... Read more →
Photo by Haley Owens on Unsplash The hubby is a patient and tolerant man. I'm glad those traits apply to some of my annoying tendencies. But one thing I do that drives him crazy is picking up coins on the street. Or, in the case of the penny I found yesterday as I got out of my car at the grocery store, in parking lots. Lucky for me, he doesn’t see me do this very often. I stick the pennies and other found change in my pocket and dump them in the coin jar when I get home. And yes,... Read more →
Photo by Pavel Danilyuk The Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today announced cities, counties, transit systems, and special purpose districts soon will be getting their share of $1.1 billion in local sales tax allocations for September. That's 6.3 percent more than last September. Sales taxes are one of the three major ways states and the assorted jurisdictions within their borders get revenue. The other two are property taxes, mostly on real estate value, and income earned by individuals and businesses. Since the Lone Star State has no personal income tax, most of us residents are resigned to generally high sales and... Read more →
Photo by Antoni Shkraba Capital gains, the money made when you sell an asset that’s increased in value, have been in the tax code since the modern income tax was ratified in 1913. Back then, these earnings were taxed at a top 7 percent rate. In 1921, an alternative top capital gains tax rate of 12.5 percent was allowed. The 5.5 percentage point hike was not that bad, though, when you compared it to the top ordinary tax rate more than a century ago of 73 pct. Then the investment tax followed the adage that what goes up must come... Read more →
Photo by Pixabay It’s true that correlation does not imply causation, but some Kentucky data seems to indicate that the Bluegrass State’s decision in 2018 to increase its cigarette tax rate not only boosted the state’s revenue, but also lowered smoking rates. It is also true that Kentucky's initial large tax revenue collection has steadily declined since the latest tax rate hike was implemented. But Kentucky Health News (KHN) reports that the last revenue count from the state’s department of revenue, $270.5 million as of June 30, is still well above the $211.8 million that was collected before the tobacco... Read more →
Celebrating the newlyweds! (Photo by Chris Dickens on Unsplash) You didn’t invite Uncle Sam to your wedding, but he crashed your big day anyway. Chances are, however, you likely won’t know the effects of his participation until you file your first tax return as a married couple. For June brides and grooms, as well as all couples who said or will say “I do” this year, here’s a look some ways your taxes could change. A different filing status. Now that you’re an official, legal duo, you no longer can file your tax returns as single taxpayers. This is the... Read more →