The Lord and Fifth Avenue

Today I took a little stroll down to Fifth Avenue to see what I could see. For a girl whose first dream was to move to New York and write I was suitably impressed to be walking past publishing houses on the way. I headed towards Saks Fifth Avenue in a sort of shopping tribute to my mom. She would be so proud. I got the friendly advice from a native to "start at the top and work my down." I think I managed four floors out of nine because it was sooooo not my store. Cool, but not me. I did find a wonderful suede duster in lavender (my close friends know that I would dub it "Trazelle purple") that was $798 and 30% off. If I had money falling out of my pockets I probably would have considered it. I said to myself, though, that if I were going to drop upwards of $800 on a coat (ok, so it was $560 after discount) that I would have to donate an equal amount to ending world hunger or some other worthy cause. I ended up leaving Saks by a different door than I entered - and standing looking at St. Patrick's Cathedral. I skipped up the steps and was immediately invited to drop some money into a box to help the poor of the world. Entertaining. The irony of a church next to Saks didn't get past me. Neither did the irony that the church looked like it was even more expensive to build than Saks. I guess there were a lot of guilty shoppers dropping change in the donation box over the years. I have to say, though, that if I were God I would certainly spend a lot more time in St. Patrick's than Sak's. Unless they marked down that coat again...

Start Spreadin' the News, I'm Leavin' Today....

Actually I both left and arrived today. I'm in the Big Apple! I waved to all ya'll blogging compatriots that I knew were in the area while I zipped past you on the highway. Hey sixthdoctor! Hey GD! Hey Blondesense Liz! Hey Fixer!

I'm in Manhatten for a couple of days to do a presentation for a conference. Hopefully I'll get a chance to do a bit of sightseeing, although it won't be nearly as much fun as it would have been if my One True Love had been able to come with me. Oh well. I'll try not to cry while I watch the fireworks IN MANHATTEN!

Happy Independence Day!

Make it Stop!

The New York Times
July 1, 2005

The Nontaxpaying Affluent Grew by 15% in One Year

By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON

The number of affluent individuals and married couples who paid no federal income taxes jumped more than 15 percent in 2002, to 5,650, new government data showed yesterday.

The chances of having a large income but not paying taxes on any of it are growing, according to the data, issued in the Internal Revenue Service's annual report to Congress on well-to-do Americans who live tax free. About one in every 436 high-income Americans paid no taxes in 2002, up from one in 531 in 2001 and one in 1,010 in 2000.

Over all, the top 2 percent of earners, the 2.5 million filers with income of $200,000 or more, paid almost 27 cents in taxes for each dollar of income they reported in 2002, other I.R.S. data showed. This group accounted for 53.5 percent of the income tax paid by all Americans.

Among that high-income group, however, almost 83,000, or one in 33, paid less than a dime in taxes for every dollar of income. An additional 79,000 paid less than 15 cents. The average for all Americans was 13 cents.

Congress taxes Americans on their worldwide income. Of the 5,650 individuals and couples who paid no income taxes to the United States, only 728 paid any to a foreign government, while 4,922 lived completely free of income tax.

The I.R.S. measured income in two ways.

One was by adjusted gross income, the last line on the front page of the Form 1040 tax return. By this measure, 2,959 affluent individuals and married couples paid no federal income tax, down from 3,385 in 2001, but up from 2,328 in 2000. There were 60 such examples in 1977, when a dollar was worth three times as much as in 2002.

On a worldwide basis, 2,551 such individuals and couples paid no tax in 2002, down from 2,875 in 2001, but up from 2,022 in 2000. There were 37 such examples in 1977, the first year the agency disclosed such data.

The second measure, giving a fuller picture, was expanded income, which also includes money from sources like tax-exempt interest and untaxed Social Security benefits. By this measure, 5,650 well-to-do individuals and married couples paid no federal income tax in 2002 , up from 4,910 in 2001 and 2,766 in 2000. There were 85 such examples in 1977.

Worldwide on this basis, there were 4,922 individuals and couples who lived tax free in 2002, up from 4,119 in 2001 and 2,320 in 2000. There were 64 such examples in 1977.

The I.R.S. report said that "the most important item in eliminating tax" was taking income in the form of tax-exempt interest on state and municipal bonds. Nearly two-thirds of those who lived tax free reported income from such bonds.

The four largest items that reduced income subject to taxation, the I.R.S. said, were miscellaneous deductions; interest paid on borrowing to finance investments; various tax credits; and large medical bills, which can be deducted once they exceed either 7.5 percent or 10 percent of adjusted gross income, depending on the taxpayer's circumstances.

Happy Birthday Nevsky and Sixthdoctor!

Happy birthday, guys! Since when was 34 middle aged? Even when I was a wee one I didn't believe that. It isn't until at least some point in the 40s. And based on the ever-extending lifespan of the human it is probably mathmatically even later than that. Especially if you live on Jack Daniels and bread fried in fatback. (Bacon is too lean.)

Everyone visit Nev and 6D to give them what every blogger wants for their birthday - more hits!

Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future.

That Niels Bohr quote I found in my sidebar today seemed very apt. I have no predictions at this point about the continuation of my blog life. Thanks to all those who checked in. As with most things there have been a myriad of reasons for the change, not the least of which being an incident at work regarding a blog. It has left me skittish of posting and I've found that all those times when I've had a moment and would consider posting lately I've ended up deciding - no, not right now. I am even considering *gasp* removing this blog from the web.

"And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend, legend became myth, and for two and half thousand years the [blog] passed out of all knowledge...."