Fiscally liberal politicians are furiously trying to pound out the dents in their reputations. Their unified complaint in the post-Trump tax reform world has been that budgets in traditionally Democratic states (i.e. blue states) would be sunk. Data shows just the opposite. Earlier this month California Governor Gavin Newsom introduced a revised $213 billion budget [...]
Monday marked the 24th time since the March 2009 low that the S&P 500 corrected by 5% or more. Each time many people proverbially lost their collective minds. The lack of perspective is amazing. Since the 2009 low of 666 on the S&P we’ve experienced a 400%+ recovery. A 5% pullback is enough to [...]
It’s a wonderfully perfect inverse relationship. The world is getting better yet we feel it’s getting worse. Need proof? The world is getting better: We think it’s getting worse: Young people are even better at thinking things are getting worse: What’s the deal? In the past societies have made [...]
Live in a high-tax blue state? Annoyed by the SALT deduction cap of $10,000? Quit whining. You were one of the biggest winners of the Trump tax cuts. An early analysis of data shows taxpayers in high-tax states (e.g. California, New York) were some of the biggest beneficiaries. The majority of taxpayers received a tax [...]
When Uncle Sam’s income (i.e. tax revenue) is less than his spending he runs a budget deficit. The Treasury Department sells Bills, Notes and Bonds (i.e. “Treasuries”) to cover the shortfall. Who are the buyers? Who enables the federal credit card? Historically the gap was filled from overseas. Individuals would buy Treasuries due to [...]
On Friday the Treasury Department further relaxed penalties on people who didn’t pay a sufficient minimum of their total income tax throughout 2018. Taxpayers can now avoid penalties if they paid at least 80% of their 2018 income taxes through withholding and/or quarterly estimated tax payments. That’s a second moving of the goalpost. In 2017 [...]
Each year taxpayers must remit the lesser of 90% of their estimated current year income tax liability or 100% (110% if AGI > $150,000) of their prior year income tax liability. Doing so meets the safe harbor requirement thus eliminating penalties for failing to meet the statutory minimum remittance requirement. Ignorance of the Law is [...]
A worrisome trend continues. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that last year the average life expectancy for Americans declined by 0.1 years to 78.6 years. Since 2014 the U.S. has lost 0.3 years in life expectancy. For comparison life expectancy is 84.1 years in Japan and 83.7 years in [...]
Last year Oregon became the first state to implement a mandatory retirement plan for companies not offering a retirement plan to their employees. Continuing to blaze the trail the state is now expanding the program to individuals so that the self-employed and/or so-called gig economy workers may benefit. Plan participants invest through IRA-like accounts that are [...]
When Uncle Sam’s income (i.e. tax revenue) is less than his spending he runs a budget deficit. The Treasury Department sells Bills, Notes and Bonds (i.e. “Treasuries”) to cover the shortfall. Who are the buyers? Who enables the federal credit card? Historically the gap was filled from overseas. Individuals would buy Treasuries due to [...]