Make the most of sales tax deduction
Congress recently OK’d legislation that will allow Washington residents to deduct state and local sales taxes from their federal income tax starting with their 2004 returns.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) recently offered these tips to taxpayers on how to take advantage of the sales-tax deduction:
• Save receipts, especially for big purchases. You can still claim a deduction without receipts, but you may get bigger deduction if you have them.
• Think back to Jan. 1 — did you buy any big-ticket items, and do you still have the receipts? Examples would be buying or leasing a car, home remodeling projects, buying a boat or other recreational equipment, or jewelry.
• If you itemize on your federal tax return, you’ll need to choose between the actual sales tax you paid —based on your receipts — and the amount the IRS will allow you to deduct automatically. Choose the larger of those two figures because it’ll mean a bigger deduction from your federal tax. IRS tables to determine the automatic deduction should be available by January, and will take into account your income, marital status and location.
• The average tax cut for those who itemize will be between $519 and $575, the Congressional Research Service says.
Thieves drawn to Maxima, Escalade
The Nissan Maxima’s fancy headlights have made it such a target for thieves that Maxima’s rate of insurance theft claims has gone from inconsequential to second-highest among all vehicles, a recent report. says
Cadillac’s Escalade EXT has the worst rate of theft claims, apparently because many have expensive wheels, according to the report. It’s the second consecutive year that an Escalade has been the worst.
The theft claim rate is the number of theft-related insurance claims per 1,000 insured vehicles.
Maxima’s high-intensity-discharge headlights, the icy-blue lights sometimes called xenon lights, are considered a status symbol because HID lights are usually found on luxury or high-performance cars. Nissan made HID lights standard on 2002 Maximas to give them an extra selling point against rivals.
Vehicles with the lowest rate of theft claims are the Buick LeSabre, Buick Park Avenue and the Ford Taurus station wagon.
Things looking up for some grads
Members of the college class of 2004 are making those first payments on their student loans. Whose paychecks are making it easiest to make those payments? According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers:
• Engineering: Chemical engineers start at the top of the scale for grads, earning an average $52,539, 0.3 percent higher than last year.
Computer engineering grads make $51,297 a year, unchanged from the year before.
• Computers: Information systems grads earn $42,375 a year. That’s a whopping 10.7 percent increase from last year, but then again, they haven’t seen an increase in three years.
• Business: Demand for business majors shows up in a 6.2 percent raise, to $38,254. Paychecks for economics and finance grads are staying even with inflation. Their starting salaries rose 3 percent, to $40,630.
• Liberal arts: English majors have heard the jokes for years about Ph.Ds working as cabbies. Well, deconstruct this: You got a huge raise, 8.1 percent, to $31,113.
NACE also reports that the hiring outlook for the class of 2005 is picking up. Employers expect to hire 13.1 percent more grads in 2004-05.