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- IRS Tax Tips: Six Ways to Lower Your Taxes Before the Year Ends
- MF Global chief missing $1.2B is financial adviser to EPA
- Tweeting the word ‘drill’ could mean your Twitter account is read by U.S. government spies
- Technology Civil War? South’s Tech Sector Thrives
- Taking multi-vitamin pills ‘does nothing for our health’
- Nashville gets its own Tea Party branch
- Johnson the Libertarian could snag some of state’s electoral votes
| IRS Tax Tips: Six Ways to Lower Your Taxes Before the Year Ends Posted: 28 Dec 2011 09:42 AM PST By Gwen Ruelle, Bed-Stuy Patch There are only a few days left in 2011, but it is not too late to take advantage of a few options that will lower your 2011 taxes. Remember that December 31st is the final deadline, so act fast! Here are six year-end tips from the IRS: Make Charitable Contributions – If you itemize deductions, your donations must be made to qualified charities no later than Dec. 31 to be deductible for 2011. You must have a canceled check, a bank statement, credit card statement or a written statement from the charity, showing the name of the charity and the date and amount of the contribution for all cash donations. Donations charged to a credit card by Dec. 31 are deductible for 2011, even if the bill isn’t paid until 2012. If you donate clothing or household items, they must be in good used condition or better to be deductible. Install Energy-Efficient Home Improvements – You still have time this year to make energy-saving and green-energy home improvements and qualify for either of two home energy credits. Installing energy efficient improvements such as insulation, new windows and water heaters to your main home can provide up to $500 in tax savings. Homeowners going green should also check out the Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit, designed to spur investment in alternative energy equipment. The credit equals 30 percent of the cost of qualifying solar, wind, geothermal, or heat pump property. For details see Special Edition Tax Tip 2011-08, Home Energy Credits Still Available for 2011 on the IRS.gov website. Consider a Portfolio Adjustment – Check your investments for gains and losses and consider sales by Dec. 31. You may normally deduct capital losses up to the amount of capital gains, plus $3,000 from other income. If your net capital losses are more than $3,000, the excess can be carried forward and deducted in future years. Contribute the Maximum to Retirement Accounts – Elective deferrals you make to employer-sponsored 401(k) plans or similar workplace retirement programs for 2011 must be made by Dec. 31. However, you have until April 17, 2012, to set up a new IRA or add money to an existing IRA and still have it count for 2011. You normally can contribute up to $5,000 to a traditional or Roth IRA, and up to $6,000 if age 50 or over. The Saver's Credit, also known as the Retirement Savings Contribution Credit, is also available to low- and moderate-income workers who voluntarily contribute to an IRA or workplace retirement plan. The maximum Saver's Credit is $1,000, and $2,000 for married couples, but the amount allowed could be reduced or eliminated for some taxpayers in part because of the impact of other deductions and credits. Make a Qualified Charitable Distribution – If you are age 70½ or over, the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) allows you to make a distribution paid directly from your individual retirement account to a qualified charity, and exclude the amount from gross income. The maximum annual exclusion for QCDs is $100,000. The excluded amount can be used to satisfy any required minimum distributions that the individual must otherwise receive from their IRAs in 2011. This benefit is available even if you do not itemize deductions. To read more, visit: http://bed-stuy.patch.com/articles/six-year-end-tax-tips-from-the-irs |
| MF Global chief missing $1.2B is financial adviser to EPA Posted: 28 Dec 2011 09:37 AM PST By Jim McElhatton, The Washington Time During two days of recent congressional hearings into how as much as $1.2 billion disappeared from MF Global customer accounts, the chief operating officer of the imploding investment firm responded again and again that he did not know. Yet as the House and Senate interrogated Bradley I. Abelow and other top executives at MF Global Holdings Ltd., lawmakers did not mention Mr. Abelow's role as a financial adviser for the Environmental Protection Agency, which as of Tuesday listed him as the chairman of its financial advisory board. Even as he finds himself the public face of a bankruptcy and admitted to lawmakers that he had no idea how client funds disappeared, Congress and the administration have voiced no public concern about Mr. Abelow's role advising the $8.6 billion government agency on its finances. "EPA relying on Wall Street for financial guidance is like the blind leading the blind," said Jeff Ruch, president of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group based in Washington. "In Abelow, you have a Wall Street executive who just presided over the disappearance of $1 billion in investor funds purporting to help guide federal infrastructure financing." The EPA did not respond to multiple messages concerning Mr. Abelow's status with the board, though the EPA's website still reports that he is its chairman and notes his job at MF Global. To read more, visit: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/27/mf-global-chief-missing-12b-financial-adviser-epa/ |
| Tweeting the word ‘drill’ could mean your Twitter account is read by U.S. government spies Posted: 28 Dec 2011 09:34 AM PST By Rob Waugh, Daily Mail The Department of Homeland Security makes fake Twitter and Facebook profiles for the specific purpose of scanning the networks for ‘sensitive’ words – and tracking people who use them. Simply using a word or phrase from the DHS’s ‘watch’ list could mean that spies from the government read your posts, investigate your account, and attempt to identify you from it, acccording to an online privacy group. The words which attract attention range from ones seemingly related to diseases or bioweapons such as ‘human to animal’ and ‘outbreak’ to other, more obscure words such as ‘drill’ and ‘strain’. The DHS also watches for words such as ‘illegal immigrant’. The DHS outlined plans to scans blogs, Twitter and Facebook for words such as ‘illegal immigrant’, ‘outbreak’, ‘drill’, ‘strain’, ‘virus’, ‘recovery’, ‘deaths’, ‘collapse’, ‘human to animal’ and ‘trojan’, according to an ‘impact asssessment’ document filed by the agency. To read more, visit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2079283/Tweeting-word-drill-mean-Twitter-account-read-government-spies.html |
| Technology Civil War? South’s Tech Sector Thrives Posted: 28 Dec 2011 09:29 AM PST By Sasha Bogursky, FOXNews.com A growing tech startup scene in the South threatens to unseat the traditional tech meccas of Boston, New York and San Francisco. Meet the next generation of entrepreneurs behind three Atlanta-based companies who come at tech from a very different perspective. "Atlanta and the South in general is very different culturally — especially for the tech industry," GuildQuality founder and CEO Geoff Graham told FoxNews.com. His company has provided customer satisfaction surveying for the construction and real estate industries since 2002, and he readily admits that the venture capital funding available in Silicon Valley and New York just isn’t there in Georgia. Graham sees that as a blessing. "We build businesses here using the money customers paid us to serve them," he said. "Instead of being funded by venture capitals we’re funded by the checks we [cut] ourselves, the money we borrow from friends and family." From telecom to Internet security to digital media, Georgia plays a bigger role in technology than most Americans know. Atlanta in particular is a tech mecca, a place where companies launch with starkly different ideologies than their Northern competition. To read more, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/27/new-technology-civil-war/ |
| Taking multi-vitamin pills ‘does nothing for our health’ Posted: 28 Dec 2011 09:22 AM PST By Daily Mail Reporter They are a daily essential for millions of Britons hoping to ward off ill-health. But despite the millions of pounds spent on vitamin pills, they do nothing for our health, according to a major study. Researchers spent more than six years following 8,000 people and found that those taking supplements were just as likely to have developed cancer or heart disease as those who took an identical-looking dummy pill. And when they were questioned on how healthy they felt, there was hardly any difference between the two groups. Experts said the study – one of the most extensive carried out into vitamin pills – suggested that millions of consumers may be wasting their money on supplements. Many users fall into the category of the 'worried well' – healthy adults who believe the pills will insure them against deadly illnesses – according to Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St George's Hospital in London. To read more, visit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2078861/Taking-multi-vitamin-pills-does-health.html |
| Nashville gets its own Tea Party branch Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:19 AM PST
Nearly three years after a wave of anti-federal government sentiment spawned a national movement, Tea Party groups in Tennessee are still popping up. The latest is the Nashville Tea Party, launched earlier this month, marking the first Tea Party organization to use Tennessee's capital city in its title. Ben Cunningham, who heads the Nashville-based Tennessee Tax Revolt, is the lead founder of the Nashville Tea Party, which made its entry into the local political scene through social media, adopting Twitter and Facebook pages in recent weeks. "We're just in the very formative stages," Cunningham told The City Paper Tuesday. "So, we don't have a whole lot we can say about the structure. We'll have many more details coming out over the next few weeks and months." The new group's website, nashvilleteaparty.com, lists three core values: "limited constitutional government, fiscal responsibility and free markets." Cunningham, known best for his 2006 petition drive allowing Nashvillians to vote on future property tax increases, said Nashville Tea Party would announce members of its advisory board at a later time. The plan is to make inroads in Metro government, which has received little attention from Tea Party activists. "We will be focusing on issues related to Metro government and the [Metro] Council," Cunningham said. To read more, visit: http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/nashville-gets-its-own-tea-party-branch |
| Johnson the Libertarian could snag some of state’s electoral votes Posted: 28 Dec 2011 08:14 AM PST
With former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson expected to announce Wednesday his bid for the Libertarian Party nomination for president, some wonder whether that could make Johnson a real contender for New Mexico’s five electoral votes. Johnson has scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference Wednesday at the state Capitol, at which he is expected to announce he will drop his long-shot bid for the Republican nomination and run instead as a Libertarian. Earlier this month, a Public Policy Polling survey of New Mexico voters showed Johnson taking more than 20 percent of the vote in the general election in a three-way race with Democrat Barack Obama and either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich as the Republican nominee. According to that poll, Johnson would take 26 percent to 30 percent of the Republican vote in New Mexico and win a plurality of the independent vote. Obama would win the state by 15 to 17 percentage points with or without Johnson in the race. (That is, if the election were held a couple of weeks ago, when the poll was taken.) The state Republican Party recently lambasted PPP, which is a Democratic Party polling company, saying the company’s polls have undercounted Republicans. To read more, visit: http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Election-2012-Johnson-the-Libertarian-could-snag-N-M–votes |
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