Letters to the Editor

[wordsmythe]

Taxing teens
The $69 billion tax cut bill that President Bush recently signed tripled tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds, despite Bush's 1999 pledge to veto any tax increase.

Under the new law, teens ages 14 to 17 with investment income will be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent.

In order to give tax cuts to oil companys and millionaires somebody has to pay. Why not make the teenagers pay more? They don't vote, so what's the harm?

[wordsmythe]

We need new faces in Congress, which has become a place of partisanship and gets nothing done. Congress has become an institution incapable of solving the pressing issues like Social Security, health care and tax reform.

Members of Congress spend a good portion of their time raising money for the next election and use pork barrel spending as way to win re-election.

One might yearn for the old days when Democrats and Republicans actually worked together to reform Social Security and taxes.

Leadership in both political parties in Congress isn't representing the interests of ordinary people. They are concerned with scoring political points rather than advancing people's interests.

The average voter values bipartisanship over partisanship. They respect politicians who cross party lines to solve issues that are of value to voters, not to their respective political parties.

I ask my fellow voters to remember when Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas and the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat from New York, worked on the issue of Social Security. Moynihan and Dole were key players in helping reform the Social Security Trust Fund in 1983. Without their leadership in Congress, elderly people like my grandmother wouldn't have gotten their monthly checks from the Social Security Administration.

We need Republicans and Democrats putting partisanship aside and trying to meet the needs of voters.

As we near the election for Congress, we need a new generation of congressional leaders who aspire to be like Dole and Moynihan. We need new faces in Congress to solve issues like Social Security, health care, tax reform and terrorism. Voters like politicians who represent their interests, not the special interests.

[Bubba]

Originally Posted by wordsmythe

We need new faces in Congress, which has become a place of partisanship and gets nothing done. Congress has become an institution incapable of solving the pressing issues like Social Security, health care and tax reform......

I agree 100%! Especially after seeing that yesterday the Senate passed the latest immigration movement that limits furthur debate and will allow citizenship to the current illegals that are in the U.S.

Our own Sen. Sam Brownback was one of the yes votes for this bill. I thought he was supposed to represent the people. The majority of the people have been speaking up and saying they want to put an end to the illegal immigration and not reward those that are already here with citizenship.

I, for one, urge all voters to vote for anybody but Sam Brownback when he comes up for re-election. He is clearly "out-of-touch" with the people he is supposed to represent.

[Highwayman]

Taxing teens
The $69 billion tax cut bill that President Bush recently signed tripled tax rates for teenagers with college savings funds, despite Bush's 1999 pledge to veto any tax increase.

Under the new law, teens ages 14 to 17 with investment income will be taxed at the same rate as their parents, not at their own rates. Interest that had been taxed at 10 percent will now be taxed at as much as 35 percent.

In order to give tax cuts to oil companys and millionaires somebody has to pay. Why not make the teenagers pay more? They don't vote, so what's the harm?

The “Tax the rich” crowd should be cheering over this. If you complain about tax cuts for the rich you should be celebrating.

The only ones getting hit are those wealthy folks that have been using the “kiddy tax” loophole to shelter investment income by putting things into their kid’s name. It affects unearned income over $1700 and does not affect wages earned from flipping burgers and mowing lawns. Does your kid make over $1700 in interest on his savings account?

The kiddie tax was created nearly 20 years ago. It affects a child's unearned income - typically interest, dividends and capital gains. It doesn't apply to money a child earns on a job.

As it now stands, the tax applies to children under age 14. The first $850 of a child's unearned income isn't taxed. The next $850 is taxed at the child's rate. Anything above that is taxed at the parents' rate.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business...ting-headlines

[K C Muffin]

Well, the thing is - these aren't really savings accounts. Step-daugter had a college fund that her mom and dad put aside when they divorced. They didn't put much aside, but it was quite a tidy sum - enough for 3 1/2 years at UMKC. She had to pay some real taxes when she started dipping into it to pay school expenses. Yeah, she did make $1700 a couple of years in interest, but that was before WTC. After that, she made very, very little. Most of them are set up so that taxes aren't levied on the funds as they mature, but once you start to take them out, you pay dearly.

[Highwayman]

Muffin, the article I referred to also points out that there is a way to improve the tax situation for your step-daughter’s situation. It looks like the intent was help folks like your family and target folks that have been taking advantage of a tax loophole.

The change also makes 529 college savings plans more attractive, financial experts said. Parents can invest large sums in these accounts and the earnings are tax-free provided the money is used for college. (This tax break disappears in 2011, unless Congress steps in.) Plus, many states give residents a tax break on their contributions to a home-state plan. A 529 account is often owned by a parent with the child as the beneficiary.

[K C Muffin]

Yeah, I have a 529 plan for my step-son and really wish there'd been one when step-daughter's college fund was started. All that money. If we'd known she'd have to get a job just to pay her damn taxes on it, we might have done something different with it before she started college. Hind sight's 20-20, right?