The National Hustle

As you sit down sometime this weekend (the last one prior to April 15th) to get started on your tax return (tsk, tsk), make sure you review our last-minute tax tips, but these additional resources might also make your personal tax preparation a little less painful:

• IRS – Free File — The free file program is a fast, easy way to prepare and file your federal tax return online.  This program is available to you if your adjusted gross income is less than $56k.
• IRS – Last-minute reminders — These are reminders to those who have not yet filed a tax return, paid what they owe or requested an extension of time to file as the tax filing and payment deadline approaches. Continue reading

Compared to the ginormous $170 billion apportioned to AIG to provide executive bonus compensation and a couple of other minor things, the $17.4 billion we put into GM and Chrysler’s coffers seems paltry.  Yet it seems as though the Obama administration is riding roughshod over the long-suffering domestic auto manufacturers.  I mean, lay off!  These guys have been going through a lot:

• First they had to deal with the American consumers’ notion that foreign cars were better built and lasted longer (a complete exaggeration, American cars are perfectly engineered… to last exactly 36,001 miles); Continue reading

As April 15th continues barrelling towards us, here are five last-minute tax tips to help you get through the season:

1. 2008 stimulus payments are not taxable.  We mentioned this previously, but this is a common mistake, so remember that you do not need to include your stimulus payments as taxable income on either your federal or state tax returns.
2. Give your return one final review.  Review your tax ID number(s), recalculate your figures, and make sure all questions have been resolved.  An error on your tax return could be an unwanted headache and cause a delay in your tax refund.  Taking an extra 15 minutes to double-check your work now could end up saving you hours later. Continue reading

While many people turn on their auto-response when they hear the phrase “universal health care,” I would like to offer a follow-up to The Camo’s discussion from last week.  Whether you find yourself automatically a proponent or enemy of the concept (whether we have a true grasp of what it means or not), there are a few things far scarier than the government reforming our failing health care system:

1. You or a family member dying because you could not afford proper health care, and
2. Learning that the free market does not always have the motivators in place for insurance companies to break from the pack and do what’s morally right for consumers (read: removing rescission from their arsenal). 

A recent PBS Frontline program covered both these travesties. Continue reading

Universal Health Care?  In the United States, I feel the term is greeted with the same skepticism/derision as the mythical unicorn, perpetual motion, and World Champion Chicago Cubs.  So why then is the United States the only “industrialized” nation in the world to not have a universal health care system?  And what does the term actually mean to you and me? Continue reading