Flying, taking bus trips, and renting cars doesn’t count for these expenses (exception: city buses for commuting).

Estimates of federal taxes legally due but not paid stand at $458 billion per year. That’s roughly the same as the entire federal deficit last year. Thanks for cheating and leaving the rest of us to pick…

Ouch. Must be some noncommuting costs in that $512.80 figure, still, besides the truck. (say $400 of it is on your vehicle, then 67 *10 *52 = 34,840 mi/yr= 2903 mi/ mo. At $2.70/gal, that’s 148 gallons, so only about 20 mpg....

If that $270 isn’t being spent on eligible expenses, YES, there is fraud. It isn’t legal to deduct money for these purposes and have it spent on any other item.

54 cents per mile for business, 19 cents for medical purposes, and 14 cents for charity. The medical and charity cases can be calculated for distances to/from home.

It is true that you can carry over the excess. But you cannot use the money carried over for anything other than these commuting benefits.

So if they take $270 out of your pay and you spend $116 on a metrocard, you have $154 left over - which you can keep indefinitely. However, you cannot take that money out to go…

Yikes. How awful is your commute? Or do you travel on business a lot?

$512.80 around here would mean roughly 46 gallons per week, which is quite a lot (I’m around 6 by comparison).

If you’re traveling on business in your own car, and your employer is not reimbursing you, there is a tax deduction on Schedule A that you…

It doesn’t really matter if it puts you in a lower tax bracket or not. The value is simply based on whatever your marginal tax rate is.

So, for example (using generic numbers, not the actual tax brackets), if the 25% tax bracket starts at $75k and your taxable income is $80k and you do $255 per month to this pretax,…

New Oldsmobiles are in early this year...

Especially as they wear in and get sharper. :O

Here’s a more appropriate comparison of a reinforced HDPE glove (better than a Gorilla Glove) vs. ANSI cut level 5 protection:

I wouldn’t be shocked. The Chilton manual only calls for waiting 1 minute after disconnecting the battery.

Given the severity of getting it wrong and how we generally have time to spare when doing a DIY repair, I’d pull the fuse as in this method and then wait an hour after disconnecting the battery. And then use…

If you’ve got sharp edges, don’t count on those gorilla gloves to do much for you. I found these to give almost the same dexterity and they’re great against cuts:

To work safely with a car when you need to lift it:

1) Use good quality jack stands.
2) Chock your wheels
3) Keep your jack on the side you’re working on, just barely touching the frame/body next to where the jackstand is (not to carry a load, but to serve as a backup).
4) Take the tires off and place them flat under the…

Careful pushing with an open palm that isn’t protected - you have nerves running along the sides of your fingers that are barely beneath the surface of the skin - there’s one on either side close to your palm - hitting one of them can lead to significant permanent loss of feeling or some expensive surgery... Get some…

It may be overkill, but the Chilton method for my car calls for removing the fuse to the SRS system first, verifying that the warning light for the system remains lit (signifying no power to the system), then disconnecting the battery and waiting.

I’m guessing that pulling the fuse is mostly another layer of…

Leather gloves can be insufficient for sheetmetal. TRUST ME. Get some gloves with ANSI cut level 5 protection instead.

So, to get this straight - congress wants TSA to figure out how many people they need to staff checkpoints, but won’t provide more funding than they currently provide. So we’ll be stuck with the same number of minimum-wage workers, but maybe they’ll shift some around (likely making some lines longer and others…

1st:

Of course production for the US is ending as well. It sells terribly in the US and every one is made in Japan - do you seriously think they’d keep production running in Japan and not sell it in their home market?

1%? That’s nothing. Our local school district offers its employees a 403(b) plan where you can choose CDs or a list of investment funds - funds which, on the LOW end have a 3% load and 2% annual expense ratio. On the high end they have a 5% load and a 3% annual expense ratio. If you do the math you find out VERY…

Would it be all that surprising if TSA wasn’t allowed to do something without congressional approval? That’s how congress treats the post office. They can’t raise rates without congressional approval. They can’t even close post offices without congressional approval. My hometown has two branch post offices within a…

Do you really think that will help? SFO uses private security and their wait times are pretty much the same as most major airports.