Worried about your required minimum distribution (RMD, aka minimum required distribution, MRD)? Don’t be. Fidelity’s got you covered. Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions regarding RMDs. General information What are minimum required distributions (MRDs)? Minimum required distributions, or MRDs, are mandatory, minimum yearly withdrawals that generally must be taken starting in the year you turn 70½. While there is a minimum amount you are required to withdraw in order to avoid severe penalties, you can always take more than the MRD amount. You generally have … [Read more...]
Is Your Governor Making the Grade? Part II
My friend Chris Edwards has done an exhaustive analysis of the trends in state spending, and the performance of the governors of each state. Apart from his ranking of the governors, what struck me in his report "FISCAL POLICY REPORT CARD ON AMERICA’S GOVERNORS 2016," was the frightening trend of increased spending in state budgets. Edwards writes: Figure 1 shows state general fund spending since 2000, based on data from the National Association of State Budget Officers.2 Spending soared between 2002 and 2008, and then it fell during the recession as states trimmed their budgets.3 Spending has … [Read more...]
Is Your Governor Making the Grade, Part I?
My friend Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at Cato Institute, examines the fiscal performance of the nation's governors. With the growing revenues of recent years, most states have balanced their short-term budgets without major problems, but many states face large challenges ahead. Medicaid costs are rising, and federal aid for this huge health program will likely be reduced in coming years. At the same time, many states have high levels of unfunded liabilities in their pension and retiree health plans. Those factors will create pressure for states to raise taxes. Yet global … [Read more...]
Warren Buffet’s Dishonest “My Secretary’s Tax Rate Higher than Mine”
The problem with “the problem” many pundits are having with Donald Trump’s taxes, or non-taxes, is that they are talking about a tax on “income.” And living off “income” does not fit with those who do not live off “income,” but rather live off assets, explains Francis Menton in Manhattan Contrarian. What is considered “income” is relatively easy to figure out. You work for a year; you get paid in cash for a year. That’s your income for that year, of which you are required to pay the stated proportion of it in taxes. But many people who are neither rich nor wealthy do not live off income. … [Read more...]
Lowering Tax Rates Improves Incentives For People to Earn
The Cato Institute’s Dan Mitchell boils economic growth down to one simple truth. Why don’t the politicians seem to grasp such indisputable common sense? Proponents of lower tax rates are motivated by a desire to improve incentives for people to earn additional income with more work, more saving, and more investment. That's the basic insight of supply-side economics. It has nothing to do with how they spend (or don't spend) their income. The well known Laffer Curve also suggests that lowering taxes may indeed increase government revenue as well. … [Read more...]
10 Worst States to Retire in for Taxes
You’re going to have to be smart about retirement income in the years ahead—smarter than maybe your parents had to be. We are in uncharted territory for the retiring Baby Boomer generation with 401(k)s doing the heavy lifting once done by pensions. One way to keep more of what’s yours is to reduce taxes. Moving to another state isn’t always an option, but for some it could be a smart financial move. Moving to another state doesn’t mean you’re leaving your family. Don’t worry they’ll visit! It’s a part-time gig (six months and a day). One way to see if it’s right for you is to rent for a … [Read more...]
Corporate Tax Rates around the World
I subscribe to the Tax Foundation's weekly email. I find their tax maps to be a go to resource for perspective and intelligence. … [Read more...]
Excise to Excess: States that Make You Pay
The Tax Foundation has released a map displaying the ranking and dollar/citizen each state pulls in via excise taxes. Excise taxes are usually placed on goods that consumers can't avoid, like gasoline, or goods that governments would prefer consumers avoid, like cigarettes or alcohol (also called Sin Taxes). Policy makers are attempting to generate maximum revenue, while also achieving some other goal, i.e. preventing cancer or reducing emissions. The Tax Foundation writes: State and local governments rely on a variety of tax types to raise revenue, one of which is the excise tax. Like … [Read more...]
Switzerland: The Drawbacks of Wealth Taxation
Researchers studying the effects of wealth taxation in Switzerland have found that, rather than quelling inequality, the taxes are costly to the economy and generate little revenue with respect to their negative impacts. The Tax Foundation's Alex Durante writes: Many countries in the OECD impose estate or inheritance taxes, two kinds of wealth taxes, on their citizens. Estate and inheritance taxes are levied on the money and property of the deceased and paid by the beneficiaries. However, only a few of these countries tax personal wealth holdings on a yearly basis. Switzerland imposes the … [Read more...]
Survival States: Sales Taxes
If you're looking for the freest, easiest living conditions you can find, be sure to avoid states with high sales taxes. The Tax Foundation has mapped out the best and the worst in sales tax rates here. … [Read more...]
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