A little bit of tax relief

January 9, 2020

For those of you who were facing the requirement to make your first RMD (required minimum distribution) withdrawal from your retirement account in 2020 please be aware that the law changed in December.

Evidently now if you had not reached the age of 70 1/2 before December 31, 2019 the new age trigger will be 72 years old.  This lets you keep the money working for you an extra year and one half.  If you were 70 1/2 years old before January 1, 2020 the law stays the same.

The new law also allows people over 70 1/2 to continue making contributions to their retirement accounts as long as they have “earned” (payroll) income.

Contact your tax adviser to see if this applies to you.

We deserve better

Brutus

16 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Government pensions

December 30, 2019

JerryK wrote this in a comment a couple of weeks ago:

Stop payments into City retirement funds (that are underfunded anyway) and convert employees’ equity into annuities. Subsequently make annual contributions into employees’ IRA accounts so they are on a level playing field with the private sector that has largely abandoned pensions. Contribute what we can afford, like the private sector.

I agree.

If any of us have to participate in the social security system then I believe that all of us should have to.

The pay that our government employees receive should compensate them fairly while they are working.  Pension plans should be eliminated.

We deserve better

Brutus

14 Comments | City government, County Government, El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Being in charge

December 1, 2019

We’ve heard a lot about our president not heading the advice of the military in regard to the punishment of some members of the military.

Evidently some people think that the subordinates are in charge.

The president is the commander in chief.

Whether his decision was the right one or not he had the right to do what he did.

The next thing we know the privates will be telling the generals what to do.

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Who are we giving to?

October 8, 2019

DavidK over at Refuse the Juice wrote this piece the other day.

It explains a lot about our lack of influence in congress.

We deserve better

Brutus

6 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

On the border situation

June 14, 2019

Alligators ‘n Roadkill has an interesting post about the border situation.

You can read them here.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

11 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

D-Day anniversary

June 6, 2019

Today is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings (June 6, 1944).

I am thankful for what they accomplished.

Brutus

 

 

3 Comments | Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD under attack by the US department of education?

April 28, 2019

One of our readers sent this in:

https://dianeravitch.net/2019/04/22/devos-funnels-116-million-to-open-20-charter-schools-in-el-paso-which-will-devastate-public-schools/?fbclid=IwAR3K8nrbgLIkv0abBv1dq7pH5tikKKCXgvUfvU2Z_UqQedm5578SpgR1r

The blog post discusses feral funding of charter schools in El Paso.

We deserve better

Brutus

8 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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