Posts Tagged ‘economy’
Here are 13 changes in the massive overhaul that could impact your tax bill, for better or worse.
The new health care reform law is chock-full of new taxes and tax increases that will affect many individuals and businesses, but it will be years before most of these hikes take a bite out of your — or your company’s — wallet. The law also has tax breaks to help both individuals and small businesses pay for insurance.
1. A new 10% excise tax on indoor tanning services on services provided after June 30, 2010.
2. The new law gives small firms tax credits as incentives to provide coverage, starting this tax year. Employers with 10 or fewer workers and average annual wages of less than $25,000 can receive a credit of up to 35% of their health premium costs each year through 2013. The credit is phased out for firms larger than that and disappears completely if a company has more than 25 employees or average annual wages of $50,000 or more. Beginning in 2014, small firms that sign up with one of the health exchanges to be created can receive a credit of up to 50% of their costs.
3. A requirement that businesses include the value of the health care benefits they provide to employees on W-2s, beginning with W-2s for 2011.
4. Elimination of a deduction employers now take for providing Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage to their retirees to the extent that the federal government subsidizes the coverage. This will not take effect until 2013.
5. Doubling the penalty for nonqualified distributions from health savings accounts, to 20%, beginning in 2011.
6. A limit on the amount that employees can contribute to health care flexible spending accounts to $2,500 a year, but the cap won’t take effect until 2013.
7. A ban on using funds from flexible spending accounts, health reimbursement arrangements or health savings accounts for the cost of over-the-counter medications, starting in 2011.
8. Starting in 2013, a 0.9% Medicare surtax will apply to wages in excess of $200,000 for single taxpayers and over $250,000 for married couples. Also, for the first time ever, a Medicare tax will apply to investment income of high earners. The 3.8% levy will hit the lesser of (1) their unearned income or (2) the amount by which their adjusted gross income exceeds the $200,000 or $250,000 threshold amounts. The new law defines unearned income as interest, dividends, capital gains, annuities, royalties, and rents. Tax-exempt interest won’t be included, nor will income from retirement accounts.
9. A hike in the 7.5% floor on itemized deductions for medical expenses to 10%, beginning in 2013. But taxpayers age 65 and over are exempt from the cutback through 2016.
10. A new 40% excise tax, beginning in 2018, on high-cost health plans, levied on the portion that exceeds $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families.
11. A new tax on individuals who don’t obtain adequate health coverage by 2014. The tax is be phased in over three years, starting at the greater of $95, or 1% of income, in 2014, and rising to the greater of $695, or 2.5% of income, in 2016.
12. Providing a refundable tax credit, once the individual mandate takes effect in 2014, to help low-income folks purchase coverage. To be eligible, a person’s household income must be between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, generally around $11,000 to $44,000 for singles and $22,000 to $88,000 for families.
13. A nondeductible fee charged to businesses with 50 or more employees if the firms fail to offer adequate coverage. The fee will equal $2,000 times the number of employees, though it won’t count the first 30 workers in that calculation
I challenge the IRS or whomever to come after me!
I was totally shocked today when I heard that the President opened some areas for oil drilling. It’s about time! With all of the foreign countries drilling and taking our oil we have to get there quickly to try to become self sufficient regarding power.
Now, let’s see what happens. Would it surprise me if after the November elections the President reverses himself? No.
But for now, 1 point to the President.
On March 25th I posed the question about the Trickle Down Affect of the Health Care mess in the health care category.
It didn’t take long, now that businesses can “see” the law, for the trend began.
Between the 25th and 26th a few large companies came out and said the bill will hurt them and will hit them pretty hard. AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M said “said a tax provision in the new health care law will make it far more expensive to provide prescription drug coverage to their retired employees. Now, both retirees and current employees of those companies are wondering whether the new law could mean reduced or canceled benefits for them in the future.”
The list continues to grow. On Wednesday the 31st Boeing pretty much said the same thing.
You don’t even have to think very hard to realize that the American People are going to take a hit. AT&T and Verizon are going to have to pass along, to US, increases in our rates. You watch – it will happen! Valero Energy provides us with gasoline for our cars. Oh, no! Gas prices will have to increase. Prices for food will follow as the trucking companies get hit with increased fuel costs. And oil is used in many of the products we use all the time.
Look around the room you are in right now. What is in that room that 3M has made? Whatever it is will probably cost more soon. And airplanes is Boeing so I guess the airlines will raise prices to pay for the planes.
This year our fuel oil, for heat and hot water, cost about $2.79 a gallon. The smallest delivery size we can get is 100 gallons which equals $279.00. I can only wonder what it will cost next winter. $3.79 a gallon? $4.50 a gallon?
My fellow veterans, get on the stick and start getting on the people who put this into law and get on the people that can reverse it. NOW! (No more reunions because of the costs???)
I was worried before and even more now. We are about to be screwed!
And that’s my view.
On March 25th I posed the question about the Trickle Down Affect of the Health Care mess.
It didn’t take long, now that businesses can “see” the law, for the trend began.
Between the 25th and 26th a few large companies came out and said the bill will hurt them and will hit them pretty hard. AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M said “a tax provision in the new health care law will make it far more expensive to provide prescription drug coverage to their retired employees. Now, both retirees and current employees of those companies are wondering whether the new law could mean reduced or canceled benefits for them in the future.”
The list continues to grow. On Wednesday the 31st Boeing pretty much said the same thing.
You don’t even have to think very hard to realize that the American People are going to take a hit. AT&T and Verizon are going to have to pass along, to US, increases in our rates. You watch – it will happen! Valero Energy provides us with gasoline for our cars. Oh, no! Gas prices will have to increase. Prices for food will follow as the trucking companies get hit with increased fuel costs. And oil is used in many of the products we use all the time.
Look around the room you are in right now. What is in that room that 3M has made? Whatever it is will probably cost more soon. And airplanes is Boeing so I guess the airlines will raise prices to pay for the planes.
This year our fuel oil, for heat and hot water, cost about $2.79 a gallon. The smallest delivery size we can get is 100 gallons which equals $279.00. I can only wonder what it will cost next winter. $3.79 a gallon? $4.50 a gallon?
My fellow veterans and my fellow Americans, get on the stick and start getting on the people who put this into law and get on the people that can reverse it. NOW! (No more reunions because of the costs???)
I was worried before and even more now.
Opinions are welcome!
Okay. The Health Care mess is now the “law of the land”. Is that good?
Think about this. The law is going to force businesses to purchase health care for their employees. Is that good or bad? Were you aware that the only reason any company has offered health insurance to employees was TO HIRE THE BEST PEOPLE and to keep them. It’s not a “right” that the employer must give insurance. At least it wasn’t. It started over competition for workers.
So, okay, the employer now has to shell out money for health insurance. One of three things will happen.
1 – The employer will take some of the wages to offset the cost thus cutting “take home pay” cutting what the employee can spend thus hurting the economy.
2 – The employer will raise prices to the consumer – you and me. So we will either not be able to buy from that guy or if we do we won’t have that few bucks to spend on another company’s product. This hurts the economy.
3 – The employer will not be able to keep the entire staff, or expand his staff, and there is an unemployed worker. That hurt the economy.
Let’s go a step further.
1 – Company makes a product.
2 – He has to pay more for the supplies to make that product because his supplier has had to raise his prices.
3 – He has to pay more to get his products delivered to the store selling it because the firm doing the deliveries has had to raise their prices.
4 – The store selling it has to increase the mark-up to cover their additional health care expenses.
Let’s target one industry – Oil. Oil drillers raise prices; refineries raise prices; delivery truckers raise prices; gas stations raise prices; home heating oil companies raise prices and so on. I don’t even know all of the stuff that oil is used for but I can see our gas prices going to $4.50 or $5.50 a gallon. Now that’s really cool!
For me that means I will need a sizable increase in my Social Security to cover all of those increase prices. How about you? You need a raise too. However, you happen to be the one that your employer has to cut so he can pay for the increased costs.
This is not good for our economy or for our work force or, and especially, OUR COUNTRY!!
What do you think?
And that’s my view.
Chevron-Led Team Discovers Billions of Barrels in Gulf of Mexico’s Deep Water
The Jack No. 2 test well lies about 175 miles off the Louisiana coast and is half-owned by Chevron. The other half is split between Devon Energy and Statoil.
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
An oil discovery by Chevron Corp. has bolstered prospects that petroleum companies will be able to tap giant reserves that lie far beneath the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Check out the entire article here.
Seems there is more oil around here to add jobs, bolster the economy and improve our security.
3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Technically Recoverable Oil Assessed in North Dakota and Montana’s Bakken Formation—25 Times More Than 1995 Estimate—
Released: 4/10/2008 2:25:36 PM by the USGS (United States Geological Survey)
There is an email flying around talking about Trillions of barrels of oil in the north part of our country. Upon some investigation the actual amount is only (only?) 3-4.3 billion barrels.
Perhaps some of that could help get away from Foreign Oil usage AND produce some long term jobs and make our country’s more secure.
Here is the USGS page.