News

  • H R 3761 Seniors Deserve A Raise Act

    Last week, the two leaders of the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate finally were able to reach an agreement on organizing the Senate for the next two years. An agreement was needed because each party has 50 Senators. Because of that, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is President of the Senate as provided for in the Constitution, will break any tie votes that may occur. That includes the vote to organize the Senate. .Expanded tax credits — Social Security numbers would pave the way for applicants to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Additional Child Tax credit. In a recent Senate hearing, Eileen O'Connor, who ran the Justice Department's Tax Division under George W. Bush, explained that these refundable tax credits, "can create a ‘refund' of an amount you never paid as income taxes. So you can have a liability before the credit of 0, have paid in nothing, and with a refundable earned income tax credit of ,000, get a check from Uncle Sam for 0." She went on to say that immigrants who acquire Social Security numbers would be able to amend three years of previous tax returns to claim the earned income credit. The U.S. Government Accountability Office recently reported that an estimated 24% of all refunds due to the Earned Income Tax Credit are paid improperly. .In addition, major changes to RMD rules were already underway prior to the CARES Act. The SECURE Act, which passed in 2019, extended the age requirement for starting RMDs. If you reach age 70 ½ in 2020 or thereafter, you may wait until April 1 of the year after you reach age 72 to take your first RMD. For you, that's April 1, 202That gives your 401(k) more time to recover. … Continued

  • Ask The Advisor June 2014

    Consumers in the U.S. are used to have many choices when it comes to the products we buy. Usually that is a good thing. But sometimes it creates a dilemma in deciding which is the right one to get. It turns out that the problem of choice is creating concerns about which of the vaccines against the coronavirus we should take. .To quickly determine whether a portion of benefits is taxable, taxpayers should take their adjusted gross income, and add any nontaxable interest, plus one - half of Social Security income. If the amount is over the thresholds shown then a portion of benefits are taxable. (For more information, see IRS publication 915 Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits for worksheet and help in preparing tax returns). .Editor's note: While I have a pretty reliable track record on estimating the COLA, this year's inflation is far different than at any previous time in the past 26+ years. Inflation has been so volatile that I worry my probability models may not work as well as they typically do. In most years I'm pretty certain about my September estimate of the COLA for the following year. But this time all bets are off. Be patient — I'm no psychic, and stay tuned to the news! … Continued

What you can do: Contact your Members of Congress and tell them that cutting the COLA to reduce the deficit is unacceptable. To provide income seniors can rely on over a retirement, COLAs needs to keep up with rising costs, something they don't do well enough now. .Visiting with an unvaccinated person who is at increased risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 or who lives with a person at increased risk .We were also told that the Congressman is working on further legislation to raise benefits and further extend solvency which he plans on introducing later this year. We will report on that new bill whenever it is introduced. .TSCL's annual survey of senior costs indicates that Social Security benefits have lost more than 34% of their buying power since 2000 because the current inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index for Workers (CPI-W) doesn't accurately account for the larger share of income that seniors spend on healthcare. .Action on Capitol Hill slowed down this week as Members of Congress returned to their home states and districts for the week-long holiday recess. Meanwhile, The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) announced its support for Medicare fraud prevention legislation, and one key bill gained a new cosponsor. .Please help us continue our important work on behalf of senior citizens and retirees. Make a secure, online donation today. .The battle between spending cuts versus revenue increases continues to be the largest point of contention between the two sides. Democrats are pushing a one-to-one ratio, contending that Congress has already outlined enough spending cuts in the debt limit increase law. If the Super Committee cannot come to a compromise by the deadline, mandated across-the-board budget cuts will occur. .This week, Members of Congress remained in their home states and districts for the month-long August recess. .As we reported then, the study by the National Board of Economic Research, (NBER) explored how "cost-sharing", in other words co-pays and premiums, can affect patient choices and patient health. The researchers examined Medicare data and found that a relatively modest increase in drug costs ( per prescription) lead to a 33% increase in mortality.