Back from the dead

Resurrecting this, if only privately, because there is just too much weird stuff out there.  We spent quality time this weekend at the Kaiser  hospital in East Sac, which has a steampunk vibe.  Also helpful signs reminding us that the hospital has gone 62 days without neglecting to remove a foreign object.

Belated Valentine's Greetings

From the Domecon Household:

Schadenfreude 2.0

From today's WSJ online edition: "Paris: Société Générale says it lost €4.9 billion ($7.17 billion) at the hands of 31-year-old trader Jérôme Kerviel. Now, the embattled French bank could face another financial hit -- this time from the tax man."

Ripped from the Headlines

I've been memed (by a relative, but what the heck)

Headline I most fear seeing in 2008 (dateline somewhere around April 3rd): "Congress to IRS: We lied about that AMT legislation; go fix your forms."

Headline I most want to see in 2008: "Taxmom sets USATF women's masters 10K record, inspiration to deskbound staff accountants everywhere!"

Headline I most expect to see in 2008: "Responding to public pressure, Congress makes all interest deductible, all the time: 'We have no clue what qualifies as acquisition debt any more, anyway', comments one legislator."

Headline I least expect to see in 2008: "CA budget crisis averted due to inexplicable surge in Use Tax compliance" (Article would quote Joe Taxpayer as saying, "So that's what Line 49 is for!")

So who can I tag? Feral Mom? Daily Kvetch? Or, on a different note, Aimophila adventures? What do you all hope for / fear / anticipate / dread for 2008?

Subtlety is our Specialty

Taxmom (looking at calendar) to SGH: Today's Epiphany

SGH to Taxmom: Oh, so this just dawned on you?

Addendum....

Mr. Buce sends me This link regarding Huckabee's National Sales Tax plan. I think the Domecon household might benefit from the sales tax, since we tend to underspend in relation to our income (one might say some of us pinch our pennies until they bleed).

In Honor of the Evening's Results....

The tax proposals of the evening's winners:

Huckabee's tax proposal comes with a generous sprinkling of fairy dust: "When the FairTax becomes law, it will be like waving a magic wand releasing us from pain and unfairness."

And there will be no IRS. (If no IRS, it's not clear who will be administering the Fair Tax, or that monthly rebate we'll all be getting.)

It's not clear how this will work for businesses. Does this mean instead of deducting our business purchases we now pay additional tax on purchases of items for our businesses?

Still, I like the idea of that magic wand releasing us from pain and unfairness.

Obama on the other hand, seems to want to create the appearance of reform without actually changing much.

He plans to create a tax credit of up to $1,000 per family to offset the payroll tax they pay. (Don't the current refundable credits, such as the EITC and the additional child tax credit do this already?)

And, news flash, Obama will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return.

(The IRS actually already does this in many instances; it just takes the agency about a year and a half to get around to it. It appears in the form of a CP 2000 notice, the "Uh, we think you forgot to report something" notice.)

Obama's other proposals are similarly underwhelming: A universal homeowner's tax credit for those who do not itemize deductions (wait, aren't we not itemizing because the amount of interest and property taxes we pay are less than the standard deduction already being offered to us -- in other words we're already getting a tax break beyond what we would have gotten by deducting our interest and property taxes).

And finally he wants to Eliminate the income tax for any American senior making less than $50,000 per year. This would actually be material for many people. Keep in mind, though, that the window between having an income low enough that you owe no tax and having taxable income of over $50,000 is pretty small for many seniors these days. That's largely due to how Social Security is taxed, which is a subject of its own.

Stay tuned.