The big tax break we got last year, remember that?
The one Joe Klein pontificates about when he sneers at Americans who think that most of the $787 billion stimulus money was wasted ... that one. The one that left you with a few extra dollars in your paycheck last year. (Oh, and you HAVE to watch Glenn's 15 minute takedown of that article.... w-o-w. Fun! But I digress.)
I don't know if I mentioned this on the blog at the time, but if you were paying attention you would have noted that for working married couples ... the way it was being handled could be a problem.
See, what they did was take less in taxes out of your paycheck last year ... as if you were the sole income earner in your family. And if your spouse were working too ... same with him or her.
Problem is, if you both work that means you got twice as much money as intended. And the bill for the difference is coming due in April.
As I predicted back then, I don't think this will help Obama's numbers any.
Last year, as soon as I found out about this, I calculated how much too much they were leaving in our combined paychecks, and had them take out that much more out of mine for the rest of the year.
But I suspect most working couples did not.
So when those people do their taxes this year, they're probably going to be in for a bit of an unpleasant surprise.
Wonder if this kind of thing will make the news?
2 comments:
If this is mentioned in the news at all, it will be with the spin: "It's been over a year, and we're still paying for Bush's mistakes." Or something to that effect.
As my friend Buck said over on Morgan's blog:
The Obama Administration will be honoring the 43rd President of the United States by naming the gap between the tectonic plates beneath Haiti after him.
The area will now officially be referred to as “Bush’s Fault.”
Awesome.
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