Archive for the ‘Taxes’ Category

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Striking It Richer

April 29th, 2009 by Colin Gillens   2 Comments »

Last week the American Economic Association awarded the John Bates Clark Medal to University of California, Berkley Professor Emmanuel Saez for his work on wealth and income inequality, saying in part,

[Saez's] work usefully illuminates questions concerning issues such as the appropriate marginal tax rate for high income taxpayers, the structure of income transfer programs, the treatment of capital income, and the taxation of married couples.

Striking It Rich: The Evolution of Top Incomes In The United States

Striking It Rich: The Evolution of Top Incomes In The United States

I’ll pause here for…

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Now that our taxes are paid - Where is all of that money going?

April 16th, 2009 by Brad Harbach   waiting for comments...

Yesterday was the last day of the 134 day tax season and there is no doubt that countless Americans were scrambling to get their taxes sent off in the mail despite several reminders we have given them to do their taxes at TSS here, here and here.

With the clock expired, and no time left to explore creative ways of increasing your return or lowering your dreaded payment, I thought a focus on where all of that money is going would be…

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3 Weeks Until Taxes are Due!

March 26th, 2009 by Will Crowthers   waiting for comments...

We are now left with about 3 weeks to have all tax documents filed with the IRS. Hopefully by now most of you have them completed and are relaxed, but for those of you habitual procrastinator’s have no fear. Check-out the blog I posted a while back regarding some tips on filing your taxes.

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Donating saves you tax money…

February 27th, 2009 by Will Crowthers   waiting for comments...

Maybe. Often times companies seeking donations will market the idea that the donation is tax refundable or that you can “write it off.” But, what does this mean?

The maybe is due to a tax component called standard deduction. A standard deduction is a dollar amount that reduces the amount of taxable income you have. For 2008 - if you are applying as single, this amount is: $5,450. See here for other standard deductions. On the flip-side if your itemized deductions…

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Federal Income Tax Distribution

February 12th, 2009 by Brad Harbach   6 Comments »

Did you know?

  • The bottom 40% of income earners in the US collectively pay negative 3.8% of our overall tax burden?
  • The middle 20% of income earners in the US collectively pay only 4.4% of our overall tax burden?
  • The top 40% of income earners in the US collectively pay 99.4% of our overall tax burden?

Everyone has their own opinions on who should finance government spending, but what I find intriguing is that essentially 60% of the voting population pays collectively no taxes. The…

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