02.22.10

Golf Cart

Posted in Tax at 4:43 pm by Eric

taxesThere’s a tax credit for plug-in electric vehicles. The credit is in the $4,000-$6,000 range.

This is potentially huge for people in those big retirement communities where everyone revs up their golf cart hogs to get around Condo Phases 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Unfortunately, the IRS has recently ruled that, in order to qualify for the credit, the golf carts must be street legal, which knocks out the vast majority of such carts. I wouldn’t be surprised if an enterprising cart manufacturer comes up with a low-priced version that qualifies for street use, but don’t hold your breath: the carts would have to meet federal safety standards, the IRS says.

02.17.10

Cap It

Posted in Tax at 12:41 pm by Eric

lady-of-justice.jpgYou pay 7.65 cents in Social Security taxes for every dollar you earn . . . until your wages hit $106,800. At that point, the SS tax ceases. It’s call the Social Security “wage base.” The amount is indexed for inflation, but it didn’t go up in 2010 and it’s not expected to go up in 2011. The reason? Social Security recipients didn’t get a cost-of-living hike in 2010 or 2011. By law, the wage base can’t go up if benefits don’t rise.

Of course, Congress could just change that law, but such two-facedness would be rare, even for the Beltway (”You old guys don’t get an inflation adjustment, but you younger guys pay more like there was an inflation adjustment”).

The wage base, incidentally, is projected to start climbing again after 2011: to $111,3000 in 2012 and $115,200 for 2013.

02.03.10

Surfin’ SEC

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:55 pm by Eric

I say “let ‘em surf.” It’s probably the most-useful thing they do all day: “The work computer of one regional supervisor for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed more than 1,800 attempts to look up pornography in a 17-day span: ‘It was kind of distraction per se,’ he later told investigators. But he wasn’t alone. More than two dozen SEC employees and contractors over roughly the past two years have faced internal investigations after they were caught viewing pornography on their government computers. . . “. Link.