In the midst of the current economic crisis, I know that many in Congress were hoping for a smooth transition to a new administration. That may not happen. President-elect Barack Obama’s nomination to head the Treasury Department has hit a roadblock: revelations that Timothy Geithner failed to pay $34,000 in taxes on time. Republicans and…
As blogged previously, Obama’s proposed stimulus package is meeting resistance – on both sides of the aisle. Key members of the Senate Finance Committee have criticized plans for a $3,000 tax credit for new hires, citing that it wasn’t the most effective means of promoting employment. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said, “I’d rather spend the…
This week, it was announced that the total job losses for 2008 were more than 2.6 million, the highest since 1945. It was no surprise, then, that Congress is rushing to approve a much touted economic stimulus package. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she expected a House on the matter the week after Obama’s…
Oh, it’s going to be a long January… President Elect Barack Obama has proposed tax cuts for individuals and small businesses as part of his massive economic stimulus package. The price tag on the cuts? About $300 billion. With a b. Don’t get too excited just yet. These are just proposed cuts. There’s a lot…
It’s time for our annual review! Here are my picks for the top stories on taxgirl.com for the year: 10, Dancing With The Stars champ and race car driver Helio Castroneves is indicted on federal tax evasion charges. In a related story, my mother is stricken with grief and may never samba again (okay, I’m…
I don’t get folks some times. All you hear anymore is how we don’t want more government… And then the National Retail Federation, which claims to be the world’s largest retail organization, goes and asks for more government. Let me back up. The NRF has asked President Elect Barack Obama to include a national sales…
President Elect Barack Obama has promised that he will do “whatever it takes” to stimulate the economy. While he hasn’t laid out the entire plan, Obama has put an economic team in place to begin work on a stimulus package. Calling the potential package “costly” (imagine that!), Obama refused to put a price tag on…
As part of President elect Barack Obama’s transition, a new website has been created at www.change.gov. When it comes to taxes, Obama’s agenda can be found here. Feedback on the plan/agenda can be submitted to the administration via the web. My personal disclaimer: I’ve been on the web site but I haven’t clicked through beyond…
Taxpayer asks: Taxgirl, First …thank you for your time and effort. I am retired with an income just under 250K. ( 245K to 247K ) My income is a combination of pension ( teacher’s and law enforcement ) , soc security, income property- apartment. This year I also worked part time and earned about 12K….
I’ll be honest. This isn’t the post that I had originally written. I had initially crafted this very extensive point by point analysis comparing Obama to McCain. To bolster my argument, I was going to explain how I originally registered to vote as a Republican, how I have never voted straight ticket, how individual issues…