The answer is usually...because they can. If $30k could float away and you wouldnt notice, you would also probably avoid the headaches of a used crappy cars and get your kid something nice.

As a matter of policy, the town I live in decided about 15-20 years ago new paving of public roads is not going to happen since they were too expensive to maintain. There is currently one fully paved road that bisects the town, and a few other partially paved. Granted, we are a town of 2,000 people, but still 44…

I know folks that have gone the opposite - my Grandfather’s (original owner) 2005 has 300k miles and runs great, only a few minor repairs have been done in it’s lifetime. His still has the original bezel as well, but his truck is used more for towing his boat to go fishing, I imagine with the work trucks they break…

Toyota land cruiser :-0

In these situations, I always find it useful to switch my view point. IE, would it bother me if one of our troops were flying an Obama flag several years ago, and if that would bring images to mind of dictatorships and Nazism...nope, not at all. The guy shouldnt have flown it, but saying it is “disturbing” is…

The only way I see it being 80% is if already her agi and tax liability was fairly low, and then on her taxable income it was way over withheld on. Many people already treat their federal tax withholding as a forced saving account.

This is high on my list of tools as well. My 2 car garage is 28' wide, 24' deep, and the ceiling has a low of 10' right over the garage door and slopes up from thereto about 20' in the back. So much space it is just screaming for a lift!

This is also assuming that your total itemized deductions already exceeds $12,600 ($6400 for single). You could make $50k, have $10k in medical expenses, so $5k would go towards your itemized, but unless you have another $7600 ($1400 if single) to get you over the standard figure, it is still a throw away and gets you…

You always will come out ahead net money in your pocket. Your taxes could look worse, but there is a baseline deduction you always get (standard deduction) of $12,600 for a couple. The only money you truly save is if your itemized deductions exceed this amount. IE if you are in the 25% tax bracket, had $6k in RE taxes…

It depends on thr field you are in. In my field (public accounting), I have averaged about 10%/year for the last 5 years since I graduated. My wife, who works in a hospital, has received a single 2% raise in the last 4 years since they dont have any money. My brother, as a software engineer, has averaged 6-8% over the…

My curiosity is around how such a tax would be implemented. IE I highly doubt that such a tax would be applied to the MSRP, my guess is it would be a VAT tax - so the cost to the manufacturer to make. My guess is also if implemented, most manufacturers would make a decision to eat some level of profit margin on the…

All the stars!

I was not making that reference at all - I was merely supporting the fact of gun manufacturers not being responsible for their users being idiots, same as Apple.

As intended is an odd case to argue for a gun. A gun is designed for civilian use for sporting and self defense purposes. A phone is intended as a communication device. Both can be used in ways not intended by the manufacturer to do harm. Similar things could be said about a number of products.

Agreed - my walk behind snowblower has 4x as much power: 16hp/21ft-lb - maybe we could just swap that motor in.

Every time I have to wear a tie, 3 minutes before I leave the house I am googling “how to tie a full windsor knot” and praying I can get it the right length in under 5 tries.

My high school didnt have much interesting (04-08). All seniors got parking, and most juniors were able to get it as well. I shared a 98 2wd cherokee with my brother, lot was filled with lots of boring old sedans and coupes - civics, cavaliers, quite a few old rusty jeeps and trucks. Cars we thought were the…

That is exactly why I posed the question - it varies wildly. Obviously it ranges by location but for where ever the reader of this comment is...what is the break between middle class/upper middle class to you? The national income numbers make for some interesting spread sheets, but then over 90% of families classify…

Yeah we are in NH- median household income is $70k, though in the town my wife and I recently moved to it is $90k. Crazy how much it varies by location, I was just curious as to what fplks thought for their location. I am a CPA and do taxes for primarily businesses and wealthy individuals...poorest person I have done…

Ha I agree - last year I searched for 3 months, looking at nearly 2 dozen examples for a relatively rust free full sized truck of a similar vintage for about $5k...literally impossible in the northeast. I gave up and bought a pretty rust free Jeep WJ for $4k, which $2400 in repairs later....I shoulda upped my budget…