Free Republic

Good Quality Health Coverage Employer Tax Credit [President Trump has promised to improve health coverage and lower employer tax burdens.] Employers who allow every qualified employee and normally on-site, employer-managed "contracted"/"self-employed" person with at least six months/$6,000 of employment to sign up for qualified care and drug coverage (in the following calendar year) may claim a tax credit of $3 against their federal corporate or personal income tax, but never both, for: 1. each qualified employee who received qualified care and drug coverage from the employer for a week and paid no more than $10 per week for it 2....

The neediest Americans will be short $100 billion in delayed tax refunds at a time when they're really counting on it. Chaos may ensue, an issue neither presidential candidate is addressing. In June, I sounded the alarm on How Congress is About to Screw Up the Economy in an Unprecedented Way. The more we learn about the PATH Act of 2015, however, the louder this alarm needs to be. First, a short primer on what's happening. The PATH Act stands for Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes. As a headline, it sounds commendable and does include legislation for more than $620...

Tesla Motors recently reported that it has received close to 400,000 orders for its yet to be released, $35,000 Model 3. Most of the pre-ordered vehicles are not even expected to be delivered until after 2018. While congratulations may be in order to Tesla for seemingly developing a mainstream electric vehicle (EV) that has so much consumer interest that demand is far outpacing supply, one question must be asked. Why the hell is the vehicle being subsidized to the tune of $1.5 billion in future tax credits? If Tesla has proven that EVs can be profitably manufactured, it is...

Here's one that wasn't hard to see coming. General Motors has announced that it is ending production of the Cadillac ELR , which was essentially a gussied upChevy Volt at twice the price. You can call this one a mercy killing as the overpriced, pseudo-green, government-subsidized vehicle was doomed for failure as low sales figures reflected the lack of value offered by the vehicle. That failure was predicted here back in December of 2013 when the ELR was rolled out. As with the sales-challenged Chevy Volt, most of the media bought into the Cadillac ELR hype, calling it a...

Taxpayers could be losing up to $6000 of they don't apply for a certain tax credit, Channel 9's Steve Barrett reported. Volunteers from Heart of Florida United Way's (HFUW) "Financially Fit" are going door to door to some homes in Central Florida to make sure taxpayers are aware of the Earned Income Tax Credit. The group said it is also making sure low-income taxpayers know that they qualify for free tax assistance. "It's around $6,000 that they can get for the Earned Income Tax Credit. It's based on your income and the number of people in your household. Then, getting...

The Oregon Secretary of State's office was quick to assert to The Oregonian/OregonLive's Ted Sickinger that its inquiry into the state energy department's chronically troubled tax-credit program is "not an audit." Which raises the obvious question: Why not?

WASHINGTON — (...) The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether the subsidies can continue for 6.4 million people in 34 states who use the federal insurance marketplace at HealthCare.gov. (...) More than 4.1 million people, or nearly two out of three who could lose their subsidies in the case this year, live in just 13 Southern states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2015/06/16/3799971/loss-of-health-care-subsidies.html#storylink=cpy

 Representative Rosa DeLauro Democrats in the House of representatives are expected to reintroduce legislation that would grant a federal $2,000 tax credit for turning in a gun to a local, state, or federal government authority.   The guns listed normally sell for far less than $2,000.  There are many millions of them legally possessed by individuals.  Admittedly, even if the bill were passed, it is unlikely that more than a few million people would take advantage of it, so the drain on the Treasury wold be less than 20 billion dollars.  That is hardly noticeable in our runaway, trillion...

Gun owners would receive tax breaks for voluntarily turning in high-powered assault rifles under new legislation proposed Monday. The Support Assault Firearm Elimination and Education of our (SAFER) Streets Act expected to be reintroduced next week by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) would provide gun owners with an incentive to turn in their firearms to local police departments. “Assault weapons are not about hunting, or even self-defense,” DeLauro said . “There is no reason on earth, other than to kill as many people as possible in as short a time as possible, that anyone needs a gun designed for a battlefield.”...

You may be eligible for a tax credit if you make eligible contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement plan or to an individual retirement arrangement. Here are six things the IRS wants you to know about the Savers Credit: 1.Income Limits The Savers Credit, formally known as the Retirement Savings Contributions Credit, applies to individuals with a filing status and income of: • Single, married filing separately, or qualifying widow(er), with income up to $27,750 • Head of Household with income up to $41,625 • Married Filing Jointly, with incomes up to $55,500 2.Eligibility requirements To be eligible for the credit...

The “refundable portion” of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) payments hit a record $56,189,578,000 in 2012, the latest year for which the Internal Revenue Service has made data available. A total of $64,128,627,000 in Earned Income Tax Credits was claimed in 2012. Of that, $56,189,578,000 was the “refundable portion”—paid out if the Treasury in excess of the net taxes the recipient owed. That means that only $7,939,049,000—or 12.4 percent—of the total Earned Income Tax Credit amount in 2012 was used for a tax reduction. […] “The EITC expansion is garnering some Republican support, but I think that is a big...

Environmentally conscientious, wealthy car enthusiasts are in luck! The much-hyped "D" unveiling came last week as Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, presented what appears to be a very impressive version of its plug-in Model S electric car called the P85D. Boasting 691 horsepower, 687 ft/lb of torque, AWD and a blazing 3.2 second zero to sixty time, the new rich peoples' toy is expected to cost in the neighborhood of $120,000. In fact, the car is so darn impressive that the only obvious question is why in the world do we need to give the affluent purchasers of cars like...

It has been two years since General Motors admitted that there was little demand for the Chevy Volt (as reported here)due to there being "no plug-in market." Their answer was to "create market" to drive sales for the politically popular but economically-nonviable Volt. GM manipulated sales for the Volt through the use of subsidized leases at a time when President Obama's favorite, green wonder-car was being criticized for low sales as it failed to live up to the early hype. GM was able to use taxpayer money in the form of electric vehicle tax credits to help drive down...

Linking increased fuel economy to the larger issue of economic growth, President Obama on Tuesday directed his administration to write new rules to improve mileage for the nation’s big-rig trucks. Mr. Obama made the announcement during a speech at a suburban Maryland Safeway distribution center and cast it as the latest move in his so-called “year of action,” a time he’ll act without Congress wherever possible. “Improving gas mileage for these trucks is going to drive down our oil imports even further,” Mr. Obama said. “That reduces carbon pollution even more, cuts down on businesses’ fuel costs, which should pay...

The final tallies for 2013 sales are in for the Chevy Volt and its little sister, the Chevy Spark EV. The results are ugly. While the Volt relies on both a gas engine and electric power, the Spark is actually an electric-only vehicle, assumedly designed to compete with the all-electric Nissan Leaf which had sales of 22,610 for the year. The Spark EV did not compete well, with sales for 2013 coming in at only 589 for the seven months in which it was offered. Chevy Volt sales for the year also disappointed, coming in at 23,094 and down from...

A recent study by fleetcarma.com unveils yet another drawback of General Motors' much-hyped Chevy Volt. It appears that the environmentally-conscientious, affluent owners of the vehicles who drive in cold weather will get about half of the electric range, on average, of those who drive in warmer climates. Fleetcarma charted real-world data displaying an average electric range of approximately 20 miles for Volts driven during temperatures of about 25 degrees Fahrenheit. The owners of President Obama's favorite car who were under the impression that they would be helping Mother Earth by saving less than one gallon of gas a day at...

General Motors has announced that Mary Barra will be replacing Dan Akerson as CEO as of mid-January. Ms. Barra was previously the head of global product development. As such, she already has to take partial responsibility for the over-hyped and low-selling Chevy Volt along with the upcoming Cadillac version of the car. With Consumer Reports now stating that the new Cadillac ELR (a glorified Chevy Volt) gave them "sticker shock," will the ELR be the first major embarrassment for Ms. Barra? Anyone who has followed the Chevy Volt story could have guessed at what the prospects for a gussied up...

Seeking to put the brakes on a five-year decline in enrollment that saw the number of students in Maryland’s nonpublic schools shrink by 22 percent, nonpublic school advocates are pushing state lawmakers to pass a business tax credit they believe will help stabilize their schools. The proposed Maryland Education Credit would provide companies and individual businesses a 60 percent tax credit on donations to nonprofit “student assistance organizations.” Those organizations would then help with student expenses such as tuition, supplies, tutoring, transportation and special needs services. Approximately 60 area parents, students and educators attended a Nov. 13 open house at...

After three recent fires, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk said he asked the National Highway Tranportation Safety Administration to investigate its Model S. NHTSA said no he didn’t. Tesla has been saying it received the highest safety rating in the U.S., a “new combined record of 5.4 stars.” NHTSA says there’s no such thing. Musk said he expects the investigation will clear Tesla after incidents in which metal objects struck the underside where the Model S battery is located. NHTSA says we’ll see, and a decision whether there should be a recall will likely take months. Maybe a lie...

I have to hand it to General Motors and those Chevy Volt supporters who continue to come up with creative ways to espouse the virtues of the slow selling and heavily subsidized vehicle. They just won't give up. The latest figures being presented in political fashion utilize large numbers that, on the surface, appear impressive. When analyzed, the figures give more insight into just how much taxpayer money is being wasted on green subsidies, particularly on electric vehicles (EVs). Sound the trumpets! According to Green Car Reports, the Chevy Volt has saved 17 million gallons of gas to date. Now...