California’s New Tax Withholding Scheme.. Part II.

At the heels of RT’s last post “California’s New Tax Withholding Scheme,” I wanted to chime in about a couple of other things I had learned.  I had watched a piece on it on the local news, but found the highlights I took away nicely summarized in this article from the LA times.  I’ll just mention a couple things from the article, and leave the rest of it up to you to take a look.

As RT mentioned, the withholding is basically serving as an interest free loan to the state.  As the LA Times puts it,

“Think of it as a forced, interest-free loan: You’ll be repaid any extra withholding in April. Those who would receive a refund anyway will receive a larger one, and those who owe taxes will owe less.”

While it certainly provides relief to some of us to know that we will probably get the money back in April, for others the extra withholding may be dipping into an already tight holiday budget, or extra money they were hoping to earn some interest on.  My guess is that even though RT has pointed out that the difference is probably hardly noticeable on the paycheck, people will still panic since most of the U.S. population is already actively cutting back on spending.  Knowing the state is holding onto more money probably won’t do much to encourage consumers to spend more, which is what businesses typically depend on as we approach the holiday season.  For those that, for whatever reason, would like to see their paychecks unaffected, the LA Times also suggests a workaround.

“Savvy taxpayers can get around the state’s maneuver by increasing the number of personal withholding allowances they claim on their employer tax forms, said Brenda Voet, a spokeswoman for the state’s Franchise Tax Board.

“People can get out of this,” she said, noting that most people would have to change their allowances through their employers. California’s budget leaders are banking on the hope that most won’t.”

Truth be told, I probably won’t take the time to file a new W-4 form at work but others may find this a good opportunity to hold onto more money per paycheck.  For those who tend to glaze over government related news (I’ll admit to being one of them sometimes.. trying to change that), hopefully this provided some good, easy to understand information for you!

-debs

Tax Thought

In honor of Tax Day, April 15th, being last week I want to share an interesting tidbit on one of the wealthiest men in America:

Warren Buffett pays less tax percentage-wise than you do and he knows it. How is this possible, you ask? Because he earns a massive amount of money on dividends that are taxed as long-term capital gains, at the fire sale rate of 15%. Short-term capital gains on the other hand, which are profits you make on stocks, options, etc., that you hold for less than a year, are taxed as normal income on top of whatever you earn at your job. Your marginal tax rate is probably in the 20% range, which can easily put you in the category of people who pay a higher average tax rate on their income. Hell, even Buffett’s secretary gets taxed more than he does (again, by percentage).

-RT