The Senate voted tonight to approve a tax credit of up to $15,000 to first time homebuyers. The measure is part of the proposed stimulus package and is not yet law.
More details and my opinion about the whole shebang on tomorrow.
Senate Approves Housing Tax Credit; Not Yet Law
I actually asked this as an “Ask the Taxgirl” question, but I’ll put it here too:
My wife and I qualify for the original home buyer’s tax credit. I’ve been preparing my taxes but I’m not done yet. Will I qualify for the increase with a home already purchased in May 2008? If I do, do I need to do anything else special to get the increase?
Let’s hope they are playing ‘fair ball’ and make this retroactive to the original bill for a housing credit that started on 4/9/08!!!
And the money for a home purchase can be borrowed where?
Sometimes I feel like a real idiot. I bought my first home 5 years ago when the market was peaking. The person I bought it from must have made a nice profit from it.
I was told it would be the best investment I could make. After all, it was great for the seller and would be great for me when I resold.
I now look at my home value and have noted that the best investment in my life has depreciated 30%+. I still have the same mortgage and debt, but my asset value is dropping like a rock.
Now I see that first time home buyers are getting a new tax credit. The fact that they are entering the market to find housing the cheapest it has been in decades isn’t enough. No, they need a tax credit too. Heck, we might as well give the houses to people.
Now I am going to be told how this tax cut will improve home sales and the housing market as a whole. Yeh, after all us suckers lose our butts so that first time buyers can get a bargain price and money back form Uncle Sam for their good fortune.
All my life I have been taught that discrimination is bad but every time I turn around, there is some discriminatory targeted tax cut coming out that I just happened to miss by a few years or I just happen not to qualify. Maybe one of the lucky new home buyers will buy my house, and I can bring a check to give to the bank at closing to cover the losses, and then write a check to Uncle Sam so that the person who just benefited from my misfortune can also benefit from a special tax break and buy furniture for their new house.
To answer the questions regarding the credit for 1st time home buyers, google the irs. Click on the irs forms. Click on the forms and publications. Click on “Fill in Forms”. Click on “Forms & Publications”. Click on “Form & Instructions”. Scroll down to bottom of page and go to page 23 {may need to do this multiple times}. Click on “Form 5405”. This will display the form to answer everyone’s questions. Should you want a copy just click on the disk icon and save it to your hard drive. NOTE: You will need a PDF file reader to see this file on screen,. You can download one for free from the ADOBE web site.
garagefather – I know the feeling. We also were unfortunate enough to buy a house with no ones help and no earned income credit to help us raise 5 kids so we both had to work two jobs to get the mission accomplished. In later years our fortunes changed somewhat and now I’m stuck being villified as being too rich to qualify for any damned thing including college expense credit for our youngest and of course, because we are just rolling in dough, no one will help us with the actual college expenses – and if it wasn’t for a local bank we couldn’t even borrow money to help us with those expenses because no one is lending my money back to me after the government gave it to them. And now they want to give more money away (not mine because that is already gone so this next money they give away is just make believe money)to build roads I have already given them the money to build. And when it all falls apart (which it will do) it will be my fault – I have no idea why but I am sure they will think of some reason it will be.
We are definitely on the same page Skip . Targeted tax cuts will always discriminate against Americans because it is the governments way of controlling behavior. If you do the right things, at the right time, Uncle Sam will cut you a break. If you don’t do what you are told, you won’t get the break. That is why I say targeted tax cuts are discriminatory.
It would be no different than if Uncle Sam said all Mexican American citizens qualify for a particular tax cut but no other races qualify. Uncle Sam divides us into groups and then determines which group will benefit from their almighty mercy, and thus, who does not.
Have kids or you will pay more tax. Buy a house or you will pay more tax. Don’t earn a dollar more than this or your tax rate will go up. Behave as we tell you or your taxes will go up.
The constitution of the USA starts out telling us everyone is created equal. This implies that we have equal rights under the law. As we live our lives, some of us do better than others but we are still equal under the law. Some are more intelligent than others, some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and some of us have a better work ethic than others. These things separate us as we get older but no system of government will ever be able to change that (even under Marxism, social classes develop. Mostly the elite ruling class and the poor masses). Regardless, we should all remain equal under the law. Some how tax law has done a run around where we are not equal under the law. Different rules apply differently depending on life circumstances. This makes the income tax code essentially unconstitutional.
Targeted and progressive tax plans will always be legal discrimination as long as we have the tax code as it stands. Since the current system grants so much power to our government to control legal behaviors, it will likely never change w/o a sea change of thought in this country about equal rights and equal protections under the law. Since we are currently headed toward the left (Marxism, liberalism, socialism, progressiveism, or communism; all essentially the same thing). It doesn’t look likely to change any time soon.
@M. Castonguay:
This is the existing form for the existing credit. My question was about whether the new credit would affect me, someone who already qualifies for the first credit.
@Karen:
Man, I am sure hoping.
I found this interesting website where we can directly e-mail our US Senate and House Members.
I voiced a strong opinion about making the NEW amendments fully retroactive to ALL home buying starting with the original plan (4/9/08). Hopefully that will help some of us get the credit, get the larger credit… and no one will have to pay it back!
Maybe if they here from many of us, they will understand how much we need the help! It is, by the way, our tax dollars!
Good Luck to Everyone!
http://www.fixhousingfirst.com/
www fixhousingcredit com
Interesting site for everyone to go and voice his/her opinion on the Credit. The e-mail (supposedly) goes straight to our US Senate and House Members
(PS: add the dots in the website where there’s a space)
OOPS! Wrong URL (See Correction Below)
www fixhousingfirst com
(Again…Remember to add the dots!)