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Time to raise – or scrap – the Social Security payroll tax cap
It’s Tax Day, and a small number of wealthy Americans have something to celebrate: They are done paying Social Security taxes for the year. The payroll tax that funds Social Security is levied only on a certain amount of income. This…
New Scout badges include camping, gardening, media and disability
Scouts will be able to adorn their uniforms with new badges recognizing their achievements in pursuits such as media relations and disability awareness along with traditional activities such as camping. The Scout Association today launched a range of new activity badges…
Planning for Retirement Can Lead Americans Toward a Financially Secure Future
Studies show that Americans are not saving nearly enough for retirement. If that isn’t enough, during the course of their working years a unique set of challenges has emerged, including changes in employee benefits, longer life spans, uncertainty with Social Security and Medicare,…
Medicare’s Big Data Dump Is Just That – A Dump
Based on the headlines, many might think that the sole purpose of the Medicare data (released last week) was a scavenger hunt for the “Medicare Millionaires.” There was certainly no shortage of headlines with that exact phrase. For those so inclined,…
Taxes: Are the Poor Paying Their Fair Share?
The loud and persistent cry we hear from Democrats, liberals, and progressives is that “the rich” aren’t paying their “fair share” of taxes. What they really mean is that “the rich” aren’t paying their “fair share” of federal income taxes,…
Retirement: Help your employees, help yourself
There are 23 million or so small businesses in the U.S., employing an estimated 50 million workers—and most of them don’t have a retirement plan in place. In fact, just 30% of small employers sponsor a pension plan, according to…
Where do your tax dollars go? Find out with a taxpayer receipt
Whether you think you pay a fair amount of tax or are paying way too much, you can see exactly where your federal tax dollars are going, thanks to a Federal Taxpayer Receipt calculator provided by the White House. You can look at your…
Disability pensioners should work
Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has hinted disability pensioners could be forced to work part-time once a review into the welfare system is released. The review will seek ways to rein in welfare spending as part of longer-term reform and will…
US Govt Confiscating Tax Refunds Over Parents’ Old Debts
Before earmarking anticipated federal tax refunds this year, Americans should first make sure that any deceased parents were debt-free before their passing. According to a report in The Washington Post, the government has confiscated the refunds of hundreds of thousands of taxpayers over…
Some reasonable Social Security reforms
Under current law, Social Security’s trust fund will run dry by the late 2030s. This doesn’t make Social Security a Ponzi scheme, and it doesn’t mean young workers will get no (or even dramatically reduced) benefits. But it does mean that we face a…