dagblog - Comments for "Our Common Cents – FYI: ‘Fiscal Cliff Base Primer’"

More context, please.

EmmaZahn — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 02:58:39 +0000

In reply to FYI: for

More context, please. Married with children or without? How does that compare with married filing separate at $125,000 each which I sincerely hope is the same as a single taxpayer making the same income and hopefully much more than a single head of household with children.

If I was the decider there would be no separate categories, only credits and/or exemptions for children and other legal dependents that parents or caregivers can divy up as they choose.

The largest and growing demographic categories are singles and married with no children aka DINKs. Singles with or without children are at an economic disadvantage to them. No reason tax policies should make that worse than it already is.

But I really do not understand what this has to do with my comment. Regardless of what rates should or should not be, the Bush tax cuts were unnecessary. If they wanted to return some of Clinton's surplus, they could have rebated some of it and re-calibrated rates going forward without creating the strum and drang we have now which was predicted.

I have dim memory from several decades ago of receiving a tax rebate when rates were lowered after the beginning of the year. Do not recall whether it was federal or state. My point is that rebating part of a surprise surplus like the one that resulted from the bubblicious 90s is feasible and more reasonable than reducing rates only to have them reinstate automatically sometime down the road.

FYI: for

Aunt Sam — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:33:16 +0000

In reply to Thanks for the details, Sam.

FYI: for context..................

the tax amount of $250,000 taxable income for a married couple is $59,407

Using the 2000 tax rate schedule before the Bush tax cuts it is $73,409, an increase of $13,642 if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire.

Ditto on the thanks for

artappraiser — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:40:44 +0000

In reply to Our Common Cents – FYI: ‘Fiscal Cliff Base Primer’

Ditto on the thanks for sharing what you've found

After a quick perusal, this one stood out to me:

• On a related note, the maximums on deductions for long-term care insurance premiums will rise. This is a tax break that many people don't know about. But if you're age 50 to 60, the maximum you'll be able to deduct will rise to $1,360 (up from $1,310 in 2012); age 61 to 70, the maximum will increase to $3,640 (from $3,500); after 70, the limit will climb to $4,550 (from $4,370).

that the government should go all out to make sure more people should know about it, whether the deductions are raised or not Because the people who buy this insurance are going to save Medicaid from having to pay for their nursing home. I can't imagine the deductions cost as much as all those people giving away their assets so they can be eligible for Medicaid coverage of their end-of-life care.

Thanks for the details, Sam.

EmmaZahn — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:15:14 +0000

In reply to Our Common Cents – FYI: ‘Fiscal Cliff Base Primer’

Thanks for the details, Sam. Most everything else I have seen is either meta or macro, big picture aspects of the cliff. That, and or how the rich and middle-class are affected. Seeing how it will actually impact us lesser beings is much more helpful.

Both the Bush tax cuts and the payroll tax holiday should never have been. Both were designed to come back and bite at some point. It would have been better to figure out a way to refund the surplus as equitably as possible.