Still can't come up with that refundable credit language?
Posted By: No surprise there. nm on 2008-10-31
In Reply to: I don't doubt that he IS. Remeber he said... - sam
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ohhhh so now that I found the refundable language you were looking for...
now you are yiping double standard.
Does McCain's tax credit for health care remove someone's federal tax liability? No.
Is it aimed specifically at the "bottom?" No.
Not even remotely the same. Obama has said himself...spread the wealth. Start from the bottom up. Redistribute that wealth. Have you looked at his history at all? Of course not...wouldn't want that idol to have clay feet.
Please explain how the refundable tax credit...
that was outlined from his own documentation, that states the credit will eliminate federal taxes for 10 million low income workers...figures into that table. And then explain to me how taxing others higher than those low income folks to make up the loss of that revenue is not marxist re-distribution of wealth. Thank you.
How about that larger refundable tax credit of McCain's?
x
The 2008 credit has to be paid back (no interest), but not the 2009 credit.
nm
You yammered for the refundable....
because you thought I was lying. I delivered, and you change the subject. Why are we beating this dead horse? You would vote for him if he said you should give 80% of your income to your neighbor because it is the patriotic thing to do. LOL. Geez.
Look. I took Obama at his word. He said spread the wealth, so the guys "under you" have a chance. And from that you think he means "adjusting tax rates within our historical progressive tax structure." How is giving someone a credit that eliminates their federal tax liability NOT socialist? does McCain's refundable tax credit remove federal tax liability from anyone?
Bringing the refundable tax credits to the top,,,
Took some looking, but found it.
o A $1,000 “Making Work Pay” Tax Credit. For 95 percent of workers and their families—150 million
workers overall—the “Making Work Pay” credit will provide a refundable tax cut of $500 for workers or
$1,000 for working couples. This credit will benefit over 15 million self employed workers and for 10
million low-income Americans, will completely eliminate their federal income taxes.
o A Refundable $4,000 American Opportunity Tax Credit. Barack Obama will provide a $4,000 fully refundable
tax credit to ensure that college is affordable for all American families. This credit will cover
100% of the first $4,000 of qualified tuition expenses, making community college essentially free and
covering about 2/3 of the cost of public 4-year college.iv
o A Universal 10% Mortgage Interest Tax Credit. Barack Obama will provide a 10% refundable credit to
offset mortgage interest payments and make homeownership more affordable for lower- and middle-income
families. This universal credit will provide an average tax cut of $500 to 10 million homeowners who do not itemize.
I see refundable in there a few times. And there you have the low income folks who will, with the help of this "credit," ELIMINATE their federal taxes. Who is going to take up that slack?
They asked for the word refundable.....
and I supplied it. You missed the part about the credit Completely eliminating federal income tax for low income families? get a cREDIT which ELIMINATES tax liability?? You missed that part??
credit for safety = credit for 9/11
If Bush wants takes credit for keeping us "safe" from terrorist attacks since 9/11, then he has to take credit for the fact that we experienced the largest terrorist attack in US history under his presidency, as well. He can't have it both ways!
I gave credit where credit was due.
I think Obama did a good job not saying anything about the hostage situation with the captain and I commend him for giving the order to the Navy Seals to do what they did. But still.....I think the heroes and the biggest thank yous need to go to the ones who risked their necks to save the captain.....and that would be the Navy Seals.
All in all, I don't like a lot of things that Obama has done. I know Bush didn't do us any favors in his 8 years either, but Obama is now in office and I do not like the way our country is heading.
As for not giving Obama any slack....how many of you people gave Bush slack on anything even when he did something good....cuz believe it or not.....he did some good things too. It goes both ways.
Cut the language out. (sm)
It isn't your God-given right on this site, which is privately owned.
Coarse opinions we can tolerate but leave the language out.
Moderator
Semitic language
The Semitic language is spoken in a variety of dialects spoken by nearly 200 million people. One branch is Hebrew, another is Arabic to name a few. Just because Barack's name means "blessing" does not mean anything.
Learning a second language.
You raised some important points on which I would like to comment. If you are an MT, some of this will already be familiar to you, since we all have gone through the process of acquiring advanced medical language skills.
My husband speaks 5 languages (Farsi (L), Armenian, Greek, German (L) and English (L), and is literate (L) in 3. We met in 1990 as pen pals, a hobby he had adopted to facilitate acquiring and refining his literacy in English. From what he tells me and what I learned from this process, there seem to be certain distinct stages of learning and using another language.
Formal classes or other types of instruction to learn basic vocabulary, phonetics, entymology, grammar/syntax, reading, writing and comprehension, both written and verbal.
Practice, practice and practice some more. Use it or lose it. Typically, beyond the basics, the student will progress through the easiest to the most difficult skills in stages. The first 4 basics (stage 1), followed by the next 2 (stage 2), then written/reading and verbal comprehension (stage 3).
Verbal comprehension in and of itself is also a 2-stage process. In that final stage, most often the student will understand the foreign language much more easily (and for a much longer period of time) when it is spoken to them or around them. The most difficult stage of foreign language usage is the final stage of actually being able to produce coherent conversation with confidence.
Most of us never really get beyond the classroom/instruction level. It is a real challenge to find the time and the stage on which the remainder of the process can be played out. Here are a few ideas on how to overcome that obstacle.
· Finding venues for Spanish acquisition is pretty easy. Watch TV in that language. Start out with children’s programs and advance according to your comfort level.
· Rent movies. The ones with subtitles are particularly helpful.
· Listen to music and/or radio stations.
· Read books. Again, start with children’s and work your way up.
· Put yourself in environments where that language is being used. Perhaps you could volunteer to tutor an ESL student who speaks your language of interest. Church services, ethnic restaurants, public events, etc. Speaking events, such as public political forums, where both languages may be spoken are particularly helpful.
· Find an on-line language partner. See below.
· Make friends with someone who speaks that language.
· Find a pen pal.
Here are a few resources:
- ESL Idea Generator. Great ideas on how to teach English as a second language. Find access to a language partner and you and your partner could try some of these suggestions. It is really fun to do…kind of like a game of charades.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Houston-TeachingIdeas.html
http://www.sharedtalk.com/index.aspx?SRC=GAds.SN.en.Language.Exchange&gclid=CIqy8JrcyZQCFSEragodImWSkw
- TT 4 You On-Line Language Exchange. Voice chat forum / enhance conversation skills. Handy translation query text box
http://www.tt4you.com/
Most importantly, keep is casual and fun.
Foreign language
Forgot to say that my foreign language was Latin and my memory is about as dead as the language.
the English language - that's
what I HAVE. Comes in handy with my job.
Is English your third language or what?
Sheep are easily fleeced. Oh-baaaaaaaaaa-ma.
I don't believe that the language of your parents. sm
has anything to do with being qualified to be the POTUS. We are about to have a POTUS whose father was not a US citizen.
Well, there you have it, the language of obama
when is a tax not a tax? when it is a cost of living increase brought on by government regulations that are expensive to comply with.
when are promises made to be broken? when they are airy-fairy generalities made in order to buy votes. *no tax increase* can now be claimed to have meant about anything. he will claim he meant no income tax increase, but didn't mean: no tobacco tax, gasoline tax, excise tax, tax on internet, etc.
how silly all of you are who voted for obama thinking you would have more money in your pockets (taken from the wealthy), healthcare would be free and manna would fall from heaven. you fell for the biggest sucker play in history.
Well, there you have it, the language of obama
when is a tax not a tax? when it is a cost of living increase brought on by government regulations that are expensive to comply with.
when are promises made to be broken? when they are airy-fairy generalities made in order to buy votes. *no tax increase* can now be claimed to have meant about anything. he will claim he meant no income tax increase, but didn't mean: no tobacco tax, gasoline tax, excise tax, tax on internet, etc.
how silly all of you are who voted for obama thinking you would have more money in your pockets (taken from the wealthy), healthcare would be free and manna would fall from heaven. you fell for the biggest sucker play in history.
I NEVER START with rude language,
I only REACT to it.
Like SELF-DEFENCE. ever heard of this?
You only complain about 'bad language' if it's aimed at
!
Obama's New Spanish Language TV Ad Es Erróneo...sm
Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper
From the Fact Check Desk: Obama's New Spanish Language TV Ad Es Erróneo
September 17, 2008 5:53 PM
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has launched a new Spanish-language TV ad that seeks to paint Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as anti-immigrant, even tying the Republican to his longtime conservative talk-radio nemesis Rush Limbaugh.
As first reported by the Washington Post, Obama's ad features a narrator saying: "They want us to forget the insults we’ve put up with…the intolerance…they made us feel marginalized in this country we love so much."
The screen then shows these two quotes from Limbaugh:
“…stupid and unskilled Mexicans”
—Rush Limbaugh
"You shut your mouth or you get out!”
—Rush Limbaugh
The narrator then says, “John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote…and another, even worse, that continues the policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families. John McCain…more of the same old Republican tricks.”
There are some real factual problems with this ad, which is titled “Dos Caras,” or two faces.
First of all, tying Sen. McCain – especially on the issue of immigration reform – to Limbaugh is unfair.
Limbaugh opposed McCain on that issue. Vociferously. And in a larger sense, it’s unfair to link McCain to Limbaugh on a host of issues since Limbaugh, as any even occasional listener of his knows, doesn’t particularly care for McCain.
Second, the quotes of Limbaugh’s are out of context.
Railing against NAFTA in 1993, Limbaugh said, "If you are unskilled and uneducated, your job is going south. Skilled workers, educated people are going to do fine 'cause those are the kinds of jobs NAFTA is going to create. If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people, I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do -- let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."
Not one of his most eloquent moments, to be sure, but his larger point was that NAFTA would mean that unskilled stupid Mexicans would be doing the jobs of unskilled stupid Americans.
I’m not going to defend how he said it, but to act as if this was just a moment of Limbaugh slurring Mexicans is not accurate. Though again, certainly if people were offended I could understand why.
The second quote is totally unfair. In 2006, Limbaugh was mocking Mexican law, and he wrote:
“Everybody's making immigration proposals these days. Let me add mine to the mix. Call it The Limbaugh Laws:
“First: If you immigrate to our country, you have to speak the native language. You have to be a professional or an investor; no unskilled workers allowed. Also, there will be no special bilingual programs in the schools with the Limbaugh Laws. No special ballots for elections. No government business will be conducted in your language. Foreigners will not have the right to vote or hold political office.
“If you're in our country, you cannot be a burden to taxpayers. You are not entitled to welfare, food stamps, or other government goodies. You can come if you invest here: an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. If not, stay home. But if you want to buy land, it'll be restricted. No waterfront, for instance. As a foreigner, you must relinquish individual rights to the property.
“And another thing: You don't have the right to protest. You're allowed no demonstrations, no foreign flag waving, no political organizing, no bad-mouthing our President or his policies. You're a foreigner: shut your mouth or get out! And if you come here illegally, you're going to jail.
“You think the Limbaugh Laws are harsh? Well, every one of the laws I just mentioned are actual laws of Mexico today! That' how the Mexican government handles immigrants to their country. Yet Mexicans come here illegally and protest in our streets!
“How do you say ‘double standard’ in Spanish? How about: ‘No mas!’”
But even if one is uninclined to see Limbaugh's quotes as having been taken unfairly out of context, linking them to McCain makes as much sense as running a quote from Bill Maher and linking it to Obama.
Asked for backup as to how Obama could link McCain to Limbaugh, the campaign provided this interview with McCain refusing to condemn the Minutemen from from the Kansas City Star:
Q: ‘Are they a good thing? The Civil Defense Corps, do you think -- do they help in the immigration fight, or not?’
A: ‘I think they're citizens who are entitled to being engaged in the process. They're obviously very concerned about immigration.’
Q: ‘Are they helpful?’
A: ‘I think that's up to others to judge. I don't agree with them, but they certainly are exercising their legal rights as citizens.’
Asked about the “lies” they’re accusing McCain of telling, the Obama campaign provided evidence that McCain in July 2008 told LA Raza that he would have voted for the DREAM act, a bill that provides scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants, even thought he earlier in the campaign season said he would have voted against the bill.
Let’s delver further into this.
In the November 2007, Myrtle Beach Sun-News, McCain said of the DREAM Act, which he had cosponsored in the past, "I think it has certain virtues associated with it. And I think other things have virtues associated with it. But the message is they want the borders secured first."
The newspaper noted that McCain said he’d vote against a temporary worker program, even though he supports the idea. "I will vote against anything until we secure the borders," he said. "There is no way we're going to enact piecemeal immigration reform."
Before La Raza, McCain was asked by a young Latina if he’d support the DREAM Act, and he said, “Yes. Yes.”
The full exchange, however, goes like this:
QUESTIONER: Hi. I’m a part of One Dream 2009 and I am one of the 6 million who either have an undocumented parent or is undocumented and I wanted to know if you would support humanity all around the world and support our Dream Act that we are trying to pass.
MCCAIN: Yes. Yes. Thank you. But I will also enforce the existing laws of a country. And a nation’s first requirement is the nation’s security, and that’s why we have to have our borders secured. But, we can have a way and a process of people obtaining citizenship in this country. And, we cannot penalize people who come here legally and people who wait legally. And so, that’s a fundamental principle on which we have to operate. Thank you.
The Obama campaign also provided a number of seemingly conflicting comments McCain has made about offering greater funding for education programs in the No Child Left Behind act -- telling the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials in June that he “would fully fund those programs that have never been fully funded,” while not suggesting any greater funding for the bill when he’s talked about education in front of whiter audiences.
That ignores the fact that McCain has suggested reallocating the way the $23 billion for NCLB is spent.
McCain has changed his rhetoric and his emphasis when discussing immigration after almost losing the GOP presidential nomination because of it.
He now says the borders must be secured before anything else happens. And in that, he’s opened himself up to charges of flip-flopping, though the Obama campaign is quoting him selectively and unfairly to make their points.
The greater implication the ad makes, however, is that McCain is no friend to Latinos at all, beyond issues of funding the DREAM act or how NCLB money is distributed. By linking McCain to Limbaugh’s quotes, twisting Limbaugh’s quotes, and tying McCain to more extremist anti-immigration voices, the Obama campaign has crossed a line into misleading the viewers of its new TV ad. In Spanish, the word is erróneo.
-- jpt
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/from-the-fact-1.html
Now you're speaking my language. Single parenthood
world void of credit cards. Never used one. Not once. Have only paid off one car loan in my entire (long) life...the rest of it, cash and carry, pay as you go. Paid for my condo that way and became proud owner of Acura 2.2 CL in the absence of interest back in the 90s, good ole days from where I sit now. Passed these survival skills along to my son. Credit crunch has left us unscathed. We are wondering how the rest of the folks will fare once the recession (let's not quibble and say it OUT LOUD) sets in. Guess they will have to see what it feels like to live like the great unwashed underbelly. We expect the tables will turn on some of them but will be happy to help them out and give them a "hand up," when the time comes.
freedom of speech excludes and stops at slander and foul language...sm
You are slandering the President of the United States out of ignorance, shame on you!
Where is this written in the Constitution that it is allowed to grossly insult the President?
Even if I disagree with the decisions of the President, I would NEVER slander him.
I am an independent, not a liberal, and I never slandered Bush, although I very much disagreed with him.
Therefore there are presidential elections set every 4 years, when we can elect another President, but we are disrespecting ourselves by slandering the President the majority of the population voted.
And you are calling yourselves
American citizens?
What a hypocrisy.
You are insulting the incumbent President of the United States of America and it is not even PROVEN that he made mistakes up until now. That you disagree with him, does not make it a mistakes from O's side. Or do you want to say that you are better qualified to be the President of the United States?
Can you all look into the future, like Nostradamus?
What did he say? Did he take credit for somebody else's
x
You give him a lot of credit
In your view one man single-handedly has brought the world down in 5-1/2 years. That's really giving Bush a lot of power. If Clinton and other Democratic presidents were soooo great then why didn't they single handedly make the world a utopian place when they were in office? Wow, Democratic presidents must have really sucked if you have the view that the Office of the President of the United States holds the power to either make the world Heaven or Hell. It seems the Dems could do neither. Man, they were lamer than I ever imagined if your view is correct.
You are giving her credit for something
she will NEVER do. She will never unite the party. She will only go on and on and on until it is impossible for a democrat to win this year, making McCain the president. All she wants is to be president, and if Obama gets in there, she will have to wait until 2016 when she'll be going on age 68. She doesn't care about the country or the democratic party. All she cares about is power, not about anything but HER and Bill. Sad, but the truth.
You sure do hand her credit for ...
having a lot of power. I like Palin, but I don't believe that she has the power to "almost single handedly divide the country." Perhaps she is a better leader than I thought...
the education credit -
Obama says the first $4000 of an education would be free and that you would have to work doing community service to pay for that. That being said, if you want a community college education, $4000 would pay that - if you want an advnaced degree, then of course it would not be free.
the Hope credit is available for the 1st 2 yrs for everyone
From IRS website: Who can claim the Hope Credit?
Generally, you can claim the Hope Credit if all three of the following requirements are met.
You pay qualified tuition and related expenses for the first 2 years of postsecondary education.
You pay the tuition and related expenses for an eligible student.
The eligible student is you, your spouse, or a dependent for whom you claim an exemption on your tax return.
It's worth a $1,500 tax credit, which according to my professor was so that anyone could afford two years at a community college, because it was essentially free since you would get it back as a tax refund.
well, i clearly said hope CREDIT
how many first and second year community college students are making over $47,000 per year anyway?
No. Show me where he has said the tax CREDIT will
Becuase if it is not a refundable credit (like he earned income credit is) then it can only apply toward tax LIABILITY...meaning you cannot get it unless you owe tax. This is not the same thing as a tax cut. A tax CREDIT has more value than a tax cut, because it is paid directly against owed tax liability.
With regard to the tax CUT, this is simply a TAX RATE DECREASE. He is not proposing to send every man, woman and child $500 or $1000. In fact, the language clearly states "up to" $500 for an individual worker and "up to" $1000 for working couples. This is a top cap limiting the benefit on can receive from the adjusted tax rate.
An economic stimulus is a SEPARATE ISSUE...as I have pointed out below and as SAM herself has referred to. It is a one-time issuance of monies that will be paid to 95% of workers. The stimulus would be structured very similar to the one we have already received under Bush.
Now here this. The ONLY WAY that a person who has no tax liability could receive any benefit would be if the tax CREDIT (not tax cut) is a refundable credit. THAT is the language I am looking for. Where does it say that the tax credit is a refundable credit?
Amanda....it says that the credit will...
eliminate federal taxes for 10 million low income families. Someone has to make up for that lost revenue. Or are you saying they are really not paying taxes anyway so when he says he is giving them a tax credit he is not, he is lying about it? So which part is lying and which part is true? They were paying taxes and now they are not going to be because of the credit, or they were never paying taxes anyway so it is a credit name only. Please advise.
it would if they owed less than the credit - nm
x
Sam, I don't see where he says only certain people will get that credit - nm
x
credit to the repub congress
Are you KIDDING me? They shut down the government in a tiffy fit. They fought him tooth and nail on everything. They spent countless time and money trying to impeach him. You need to get a library card an USE it, girlfriend.
Ok, I was wrong...gave you too much credit.
Go ahead and Bush-bash. Probably giving someone else a rest.
I'm sorry LVMT........ credit should have gone to you for posting! My bad! nm
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Credit-Frenzied society
I was raised with good old Irish ethics. Work hard. Get ahead. Save up. Pay cash.
Now, granted, that's not the norm these days, but it was the norm for most of the life of this great country.
I dislike the consumer mentality these days. Everyone thinks they need a new car every two years. A new computer every six months. A new cell phone every time a new model comes out. A new home every time they turn around. And they're swimming in debt because of it.
As Will Rogers said -
"We hold the distinction of being the only nation in the history of the world ever to go to the poor house in an automobile."
credit crunch resolved
Now we will be able to borrow our own money from the banks for all the things we need and pay taxes, interest and inflation. I am firing all this jokers in November.
Get Ready to Pay off your credit cards
The government is looking into buying some banks instead of subprime mortgages. They are going to need some capital. All ready to pay up?
actually he says he will tax credit them for keeping jobs here... nm
x
okay - what do you think earned income credit is?
My sister pays no taxes - she has no taxes taken out of her check every week - she works a full time job, but she still every year gets back $5000-6000. Now why do you think that is any different than what you are talking about now? It is the same thing...
Yeah and I give him credit
that's one time he told the truth.
There is also all that untraceable credit card...
money. I imagine a few campaign law restrictions were shattered with that. and yes, he took money from lobbyists in the form of bundlers. Mccain did too. They ALL do.
You are giving the Republicans WAY too much credit.. sm
Clinton was the one who started the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac fiasco by "helping" folks who couldn't afford a house to have one. Bush called for reforming FM/FM, but the Democrats fought him down on that one, with Barney Frank leading the charge saying that they were not in trouble.
Now with Obama leading the way to financial disaster for the US with his frantic spending, you just can't lay this all at the door of the Republicans.
Personally, I think both parties are flawed and there needs to be a thorough housecleaning, starting at the top, but I don't know if there is anyone left in this country, even T. Boone Pickens or H. Ross Perot, who could straighten this mess out.
I think you give the public too much credit!
They won't even know about it until someone shows up at the door to take their kids to the "campus." The American public is too apathetic to act in their own best interests AND too easily fooled by pretty words.
You are correct and I will give him credit for that, but SM
we need to remember that it takes money to train the SEALS and he is going to cut the military budget. Also we need to stop referring to these pirates and terrists as criminals. Remember what Bin Laden said back in the 90s. When Clinton pulled us out of Somalia because the soldiers were killed and drug in the street (Black Hawk Down), he knew the US was weak. You cant show weakness to your enemies.
I will give The Teleprompter credit. nm
xx
Long but interesting ....tax credit
Sorry the link would not post correctly. This is from the AP
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 14 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans enjoying their small windfall from President Barack Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit are in for an unpleasant surprise next spring.
The government is going to want some of that money back. The tax credit is supposed to provide up to $400 to individuals and $800 to married couples as part of the massive economic recovery package enacted in February. Most workers started receiving the credit through small increases in their paychecks in the past month. But new tax withholding tables issued by the IRS could cause millions of taxpayers to get hundreds of dollars more than they are entitled to under the credit, money that will have to be repaid at tax time. At-risk taxpayers include a broad swath of the public: married couples in which both spouses work; workers with more than one job; retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from their pension payments and Social Security recipients with jobs that provide taxable income. The Internal Revenue Service acknowledges problems with the withholding tables but has done little to warn average taxpayers.
"They need to get the Goodyear blimp out there on this," said Tom Ochsenschlager, vice president of taxation for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
For many, the new tax tables will simply mean smaller-than-expected tax refunds next year, IRS spokesman Terry Lemons said. The average refund was nearly $2,700 this year.
But taxpayers who calculate their withholding so they get only small refunds could face an unwelcome tax bill next April, said Jackie Perlman, an analyst with the Tax Institute at H&R Block.
"They are going to get a surprise," she said.
Perlman's advice: check your federal withholding to make sure sufficient taxes are being taken out of your pay. If you are married and both spouses work, you might consider having taxes withheld at the higher rate for single filers. If you have multiple jobs, you might consider having extra taxes withheld by one of your employers. You can make that request with a Form W-4.
The IRS has a calculator on its Web site to help taxpayers figure withholding. So do many private tax preparers.
Obama has touted the tax credit as one of the big achievements of his first 100 days in office, boasting that 95 percent of working families will qualify in 2009 and 2010.
The credit pays workers 6.2 percent of their earned income, up to a maximum of $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples who file jointly. Individuals making more $95,000 and couples making more than $190,000 are ineligible.
The tax credit was designed to help boost the economy by getting more money to consumers in their regular paychecks. Employers were required to start using the new withholding tables by April 1.
The tables, however, don't take into account several common categories of taxpayers, experts said.
For example:
_A single worker with two jobs making $20,000 a year at each job will get a $400 boost in take-home pay at each of them, for a total of $800. That worker, however, is eligible for a maximum credit of $400, so the remaining $400 will have to be paid back at tax time — either through a smaller refund or a payment to the IRS.
The IRS recognized there could be a similar problem for married couples if both spouses work, so it adjusted the withholding tables. The fix, however, was imperfect.
• A married couple with a combined income of $50,000 is eligible for an $800 credit. However, if both spouses work and make more than $13,000, the new withholding tables give them each a $600 boost — for a total of $1,200.
There were 33 million married couples in 2008 in which both spouses worked. That's 55 percent of all married couples, according to the Census Bureau.
• A single college student with a part-time job making $10,000 would get a $400 boost in pay. However, if that student is claimed as a dependent on a parent's tax return, she doesn't qualify for the credit and would have to repay it when she files next year.
Some retirees face even bigger headaches.
The Social Security Administration is sending out $250 payments to more than 50 million retirees in May as part of the economic stimulus package. The payments will go to people who receive Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, railroad retirement benefits or veteran's disability benefits.
The payments are meant to provide a boost for people who don't qualify for the tax credit. However, they will go to retirees even if they have earned income and receive the credit. Those retirees will have the $250 payment deducted from their tax credit — but not until they file their tax returns next year, long after the money may have been spent.
Retirees who have federal income taxes withheld from pension benefits also are getting an income boost as a result of the new withholding tables. However, pension benefits are not earned income, so they don't qualify for the tax credit. That money will have to paid back next year when tax returns are filed.
More than 20 million retirees and survivors receive payments from defined benefit pension plans, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. However, it is unclear how many have federal taxes withheld from their payments.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union raised concerns about the effect of the tax credit on pension payments in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in March.
Geithner responded that Treasury and IRS understood the concerns and were "exploring ways to mitigate that effect."
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said Geithner has yet to respond to concerns raised by committee members.
"So far we've got the, 'If we don't address this maybe it will go away' approach," Camp said.
___
It seems "Barack" takes credit for a lot and blame for nothing.
Marx: Centralize credit in the banks.
private property. Right any bells?
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