Twin Cities’ homes are selling faster than they did a year ago. The latest figures from the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors show a significant 34 percent increase from last year, but home values continue to suffer. Housing market experts are hoping a federal tax credit extension will help keep buyers interested through the typically slow winter months. [www.clipsyndicate.com | KMSP FOX 9 Minneapolis]
Private and household consumption rebounds in South Korea. (The Trade) [www.clipsyndicate.com | Bloomberg]
(12/9/09) - Metro council members look for assurances that a new convention center will not cause a tax increase. [www.clipsyndicate.com | WSMV Nashville, TN]
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Feldman Says Costco Discretionary Sales Rise Encouraging: Video
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Joe Feldman, senior retail analyst with the Telsey Advisory Group, talks with Bloomberg’s Betty Liu about Costco Wholesale Corp.'s first-quarter earnings and sales. Feldman also discusses Costco’s competition with other retailers. The largest U.S. warehouse-club chain said net income rose 1.1 percent to $266 million, or 60 cents a share, as revenue increased. (Source: Bloomberg) [www.clipsyndicate.com | Bloomberg]
People tend to get "wrapped" up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, but taking steps before the end of 2009 can have a dramatic impact on the income tax return in 2010. [www.clipsyndicate.com | KRIV FOX 7 Houston, TX]
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Blanchflower Calls U.K. Bonus Tax a `Payback' for Banks: Video
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Former Bank of England policy maker David Blanchflower talks with Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker and Deirdre Bolton about the U.K. government's plan to levy a tax on bankers' bonuses. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling yesterday announced plans to impose a 50 percent levy on discretionary bonuses greater than 25,000 pounds ($41,000) before the end of Britain's tax year on April 5. (Source: Bloomberg) [www.clipsyndicate.com | Bloomberg]
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Willem Buiter, a professor at the London School of Economics and a former Bank of England policy maker, talks with Bloomberg's Andrea Catherwood about the impact of the U.K.'s bank bonus tax on the country's financial industry. Speaking in London Buiter also discusses public spending cuts. [www.clipsyndicate.com | Bloomberg]
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling talks with Bloomberg's Andrea Catherwood about a tax on bank bonuses and cuts to public spending. He speaks in London. [www.clipsyndicate.com | Bloomberg]
New building for Golden Rule, more jobs [www.clipsyndicate.com | WTHI CBS 10 Terre Haute]
Health care reform: Abortion coverage [www.clipsyndicate.com | WTHI CBS 10 Terre Haute]
Two-thirds of Texas businesses will see the unemployment taxes they pay per employee per year nearly triple from $23.40 to $64.80 under rates announced Tuesday by the Texas Workforce Commission. [www.clipsyndicate.com | KDFW FOX4 Dallas-Ft Worth]
Make sure you do the right things before year end to have a happy April. [www.clipsyndicate.com | Money Talks]
South Carolinians could pay more for cigarettes starting next year if a proposed tax is approved. [www.clipsyndicate.com | WYFF NBC 4 Greenville SC]
With unemployment soaring, many find themselves uninsured. So what options are available here in Connecticut? News Channel 8's Jocelyn Maminta went looking for answers. [www.clipsyndicate.com | WTNH ABC 8 New Haven]
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has called on the General Assembly to ban outdoor wood-burning furnaces because of pollution. [www.clipsyndicate.com | WTNH ABC 8 New Haven]
The state just imposed deposits on bottled water to raise money because they think you'll pay the deposit. [www.clipsyndicate.com | WTNH ABC 8 New Haven]
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank, talks with Bloomberg Television about the impact the stimulus plan on the U.S. economy and the outlook for stocks. (This is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg) [www.clipsyndicate.com | Bloomberg]
The maker of a luxury sports car is opening a new facility in the Hill Country. [www.clipsyndicate.com | KXAN NBC 36 Austin]
Critics say a state law designed to protect homeowners from property tax hikes actually backfired. Now the Bernalillo County assessor says she’s trying to make things fairer by limiting tax increases for thousands of people who bought a home in the past nine years. Albuquerque resident Jaci Fischer has been calling mortgage brokers non-stop since she built her work studio in 2007. While getting a permit she had to have her home reassessed. That’s when she got a real shock. “That’s a 40 percent increase in one year,” said Fischer. That’s about $200 more every month in property taxes. “I just look at the phone and think I can’t keep at this. My salary doesn’t keep up at this pace. I may eventually, and right now it doesn’t,” Fischer said. Fischer blames a 2001 law that created what’s called tax lightning. It capped property tax increases at three percent, but there are a few exceptions for new construction, additions on existing homes and sales of existing homes. If you bought a home in Bernalillo County since the law passed, your home would be immediately reassessed to reflect current market values. “If you’re talking about assessed values, they can increase by thousands – tens of thousands at that,” said Ubusaku Abukusumo, CEO of National Tax Company. That means new homeowners could pay double the property taxes than previous owners. But since two district court judges ruled the law to be unconstitutional, Bernalillo County assessor Karen Montoya says she wants to eliminate the part of the law that increases home values when they’re sold. While homeowners won’t be refunded what they’ve already paid, their property tax bills could be cheaper next year. As for people who build additions to their homes like Fischer, Montoya says that issue will have to be addressed at a later date. Eyewitness News 4 also checked in with Valencia County assessor Viola Garcia-Vallejos. She says she will follow the tax lightning law until she hears otherwise from lawmakers. Without the law, she says Valencia County homes could be unde
December is usually a quiet time in the Statehouse, but not this year. An early start to the General Assembly has the hallways buzzing. [www.clipsyndicate.com | WISH CBS 8 Indianapolis]
Dec 9 WX 4pm [www.clipsyndicate.com | WUPW FOX Toledo, OH]
City reports 14.5% drop in sales tax. [www.clipsyndicate.com | KOKI Fox 23 Tulsa]
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