| Do-it-yourself tax filers can tap these free information sources
As income taxes get more complicated, preparing your own return might feel like a journey into the unknown, sans compass or GPS. Sure, it can be intellectually rewarding--and even save you money--but no doubt there are times when you wish for a tax genie to steer the way. Here's the next best thing: a guide to free sources of information and advice.
On the web
The Internal Revenue Service. The IRS Web site, www.irs.gov, has a section called 1040 Central with many resources, including a search engine, fact sheets, and tips. The site's AMT Assistant informs you whether you're a likely victim of the alternative minimum tax, while the Sales Tax Calculator helps you identify the higher deduction: state and local income tax, or sales tax. You can even check the status of your refund by clicking on the site's Where's My Refund? tool.
Mike Ivey: Put Bush tax cuts to good use
As the April 15 tax deadline looms, it's appropriate to celebrate Chuck Collins, the Madison-born great-grandson of a bologna maker Oscar Mayer. Collins grew up as one of many heirs to the wiener company fortune, inheriting some $275,000 when he turned age 21. As a college student in Michigan, Collins watched his invested windfall grow to nearly $500,000 -- proving again that the surest way to get rich is to be born rich. But somewhere during the me-first Reagan 1980s, Collins had a change of heart. He decided to give his money away, an "investment in a better world" was how he explained it at the time. So Collins split his inheritance between several different organizations pursuing social justice and progressive causes in New England and the rest of the U.S.
Calculate your Act 1 choice
Relax. There's an easy way to tell whether the change will save you money this year. The answer lies in a simple equation, with variations for renters and homeowners.If you rent, multiply your annual earned income by your school district's proposed earned income tax percentage increase. (For the equation, a 0.6 increase translates into a multiplier of 0.006.) The resulting figure represents the extra money you'll be paying in taxes this year if the referendum passes.If you own your home, divide your district's 2007 estimated property tax exemption by the proposed earned income tax percentage increase. If your yearly earned income is greater than the resulting figure, the change will cost you more. If it's smaller, the change will cost you less.But don't stop reading yet: The law has some wrinkles that complicate matters.
Tax procrastinators get a two-day break
Help is available to those last minute tax filers at the IRS office at 1395 Ridgewood Road in Chico. The actual filing deadline is Tuesday.(Bill Husa/Enterprise-Record)<p class='dotPhoto'>All Chico E-R photos are available <a href='http://chicoer.mycapture.com/'>here</a>.</p> .
Governor's plan is a good deal for Pueblo
Cary Kennedy, Colorado's state treasurer, was a leader in the 2000 campaign to pass Amendment 23, which guarantees annual funding increases for public schools. She can be reached at treasurer.kennedy@state.co.us . For more than a decade, the burden of financing public education has been shifting away from local school districts, which raise funds primarily through property taxes, to the state, which funds education primarily with income and sales taxes. But the shift from local to state funding for education has not been uniform across the state. In fact, it's been just the opposite: Some communities have benefited from huge property tax rate reductions, while others have seen none. This is because each school district has adjusted its property tax rates to comply with limits in Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, adopted by voters in 1992.
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