Manitoba family tax benefit

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Most legal settlements are taxable, even for a devastating fire loss. That grim fact can be an unpleasant surprise to fire victims and seems particularly unfair. There are federal tax bill pending that if passed, could make certain fire lawsuit recoveries nontaxable. The proposed federal bill was introduced in 2022 by Congressmen Doug LaMalfa (R – Calif.) and Mike Thompson (D – Calif.) and would exempt thousands of fire victims who are receiving compensation from the PG&E Fire Victims Trust from having to pay federal income tax on their settlements. However, the Congressional session ended, and a new Congress was sworn in, before it passed, making the federal bill effectively dead. A new, substantially identical, bill, H.R.176, was quickly introduced in the new Congress by Representative LaMalfa (along with other co-sponsors, including Representative Thompson) in January 2023. It too has not seen any significant … [Read more...] about Fire Victims Wait Years For PG&E & Edison To Settle Then Face IRS Taxes

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin President Biden has used his budget proposal to Congress to position himself as a champion of Medicare and Social Security. Even before the budget’s official release, Biden took to the guest essay pages of the New York Times NYT to outline his plans to tackle Medicare’s looming insolvency. It’s good that the administration is at least acknowledging the need for action to shore up the finances of these vital social insurance programs and has offered a few concrete proposals to do so. But the specifics of his plan are both convoluted and problematic, and the large shortfalls that would remain even if the president could enact his policy wishlist make clear the need for policymakers to consider a much broader menu of options. Biden’s Medicare proposals are largely limited to increasing revenue for the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, which finances Part A benefits (hospital services, nursing facilities, home … [Read more...] about The Biden Budget’s Medicare Mirage

Insurers are being forced to write off many electric vehicles with only minor damage to battery packs, sending the batteries to scrap yards and hindering the climate benefits of going electric, Reuters reported. Battery packs typically represent roughly half the cost of an electric vehicle, sometimes costing tens of thousands of dollars, often making it more economical for insurers to consider a car as totalled than replace a battery pack, according to Reuters. While many carmakers, including Ford and GM, told Reuters that their battery packs were repairable, many are unwilling to share key data with third-party insurers to help assess damage. (RELATED: Biden’s Energy Secretary Calls Going Green ‘The Greatest Peace Plan’ In History) “The number of cases is going to increase, so the handling of batteries is a crucial point,” Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the research institute Allianz Center for Technology, told Reuters. “If you throw away the vehicle at an … [Read more...] about ‘Sustainable’ Electric Cars Are Getting Junked Over Minor Damage

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Another voice has joined the chorus of those proposing an increase in the retirement age. Nikki Haley, who has declared her intention to run for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2024, announced her willingness to raise the retirement age for Social Security and Medicare during a political event in Iowa. She adds her support to an idea that has recently become the rage in the halls of Congress . Why are they talking about raising the Social Security retirement age? There have been built-in increases in the retirement age for Social Security for some time now. Those increases, however, end with people born in 1960 and beyond. Despite a recent blip down because of Covid, life expectancies have steadily risen. “The reason why there is so much talk about raising the retirement age is because people are living longer than ever before,” says Dennis Shirshikov, the head of growth for Awning.com in New York … [Read more...] about You Can Come Out Of Retirement And Work Again

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Prepaid college savings plans have long been an alternative to a 529 plans when it comes to saving for college. What is a prepaid college tuition plan ? Generally speaking, these plans let parents lock in college tuition at today's prices with the goal of funding school ahead of time. The idea behind these plans is letting families purchase college units or credits with a lump sump payment, or through regular payments, at which point the plan administrator invests the money on their behalf. With the money stashed away and invested, the goal of these accounts is growing the underlying funds to keep up with rising tuition costs until the child reaches college age. At that point, the funds are transferred to the school to cover tuition costs and other eligible higher education expenses. While that all sounds good and well, something is going wrong in the prepaid college tuition industry — at least in the state of … [Read more...] about Prepaid College Savings Plan Under Fire In Maryland: Should You Be Worried?

Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. saw its consolidated net loss rise by 8 percent to P879 million in 2016 mainly due to a one-time loss on tax credits. Atlas Mining said in a statement that it made provisions last year for a P495-million loss on disputed input tax credits. Excluding that, the company said it was able to improve underlying net loss by 53 percent to P384 million compared to P814 million in 2015. “The company realized both higher revenues and lower operating costs, benefiting from an ongoing cost and efficiency program,” Atlas Mining said. Revenues went up 7 percent to P12.1 billion due to an increase in the volume of copper shipped as well as higher turnover on gold that tempered the impact of lower copper prices. The company sold 4 percent more copper concentrates at 173,130 dry metric tons (dmt), but the prices fell by 10 percent to a full-year average of $2.21 per pound. On the other hand, Atlas Mining sold 18 percent more gold at … [Read more...] about Atlas Mining reports net loss in 2016

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The Biden administration has again updated key deadlines and the overall timeline for borrowers hoping to receive student loan forgiveness under a one-time IDR account adjustment . No formal announcement accompanied the quiet change to current Education Department guidance , which occurred this week. Here’s what borrowers should know. IDR Account Adjustment Can Provide Student Loan Forgiveness Benefits Last year, the Biden administration announced the IDR Account Adjustment, a sweeping one-time fix to address ongoing issues with federal Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans. IDR, which describes a collection of individual plans, allows borrowers to make payments on their federal student loans according to a formula based on their income and family size. IDR plans can also result in student loan forgiveness for any remaining unpaid balance after 20 or 25 years, depending on the specific plan. Historically, … [Read more...] about Student Loan Forgiveness Timeline And Deadlines Change Again In New Updates To One-Time Adjustment

MANILA, Philippines  – Better prospects for foreign investment inflows are seen as the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) issued on March 20 the implementing rules of the amended Public Service Act (PSA), which allows full foreign ownership of businesses in certain industries. Upon their effectivity on April 4, changes to the PSA framework enable the liberalization of key public services such as airports, railways, expressways and telecommunications. Before the amendments, foreign ownership in these industries was limited to 40 percent. This ownership cap will remain in force for businesses engaged in the transmission and distribution of electricity; water and wastewater pipeline distribution systems, including sewerage; petroleum and petroleum products pipeline transmission systems; seaports, and public utility vehicles. Also, the amendments provide safeguard provisions to address national security concerns that may arise through any proposed merger or … [Read more...] about Neda issues rules on public utilities liberalization

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin French President Emmanuel Macron took a bold step last Friday by raising the legal retirement age in his country from 62 to 64, bypassing parliament and potentially setting his government up for a vote of no confidence. The unpopular pension reform, Macron says, is necessary to address the financial deficits caused by pandemic spending and the European energy crisis. With the U.S. watching closely, could France’s pension reform serve as a blueprint for future changes to Social Security? I don’t envy Macron for making this tough call. The people of France enjoy one of the most generous pension systems in the European Union (EU). According to 2020 data, France spent a jaw-dropping 14.7% of its GDP on pensions alone. However, the sustainability of this pension system is being threatened by demographic changes. The Western European country has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, and the expected years in … [Read more...] about From France To The U.S.: Pension Reforms And The Retirement Age Debate

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin What do you do when you are suddenly tasked with taking over the family farm? Locals know it as the farm with the little grass shack next to Pearlridge. Sumida Farm , a 95-year-old watercress farm on Oʻahu, that most locals toured in elementary school, is bordered by the retail stores, restaurants and parking lots of Pearlridge Center on three sides and a partially finished Honolulu Rail Transit Project, that hovers above busy Kamehameha highway on elevated tracks, on the fourth. The contrast between bright green rows of watercress against a backdrop of a shuttered Sears building with trains shooting through the sky for intermittent testing looks like something straight out of Blade Runner. How has a farm in the center of a shopping mall sustained four generations? Emi and Kyle Suzuki, who took over in March 2020, are figuring that out now, because with each generation a new iteration of the farm is born. … [Read more...] about Envisioning The Future And Sustaining A Legend At Sumida Farm