Oil closed last week down from its high of $147 a barrel to $130. I am getting dizzy from the constant up and down of oil prices. I will say it was nice to see gas finally come down. Its sad that we get excited about gas dropping 10 cents from $4.35 to $4.25. Especially consider it was a $1.00 or so cheaper only a year ago. It will be interesting to see what this week brings. I do not want to jinx it but I will be praying for the current trend to continue. For those of you trying to squeeze every penny www.gasbuddy.com is a good place to go to find the cheapest gas in your area.

    On a side note and true to form it seems even if this miracle of falling oil continues Congress will soon make up for such trechery. I found and article that states not only to the possibility of a temporary elimanation of the federal gas tax fail but it is more than likely to go up. Glad I do not drive an SUV. 
Finance.Yahoo.Com - Click for Complete Story

-= Matt

So I talked some junk in my previous post, “What your tax rebate will really buy” . It seems that despite my pessimism, the government is going to throw us a bone earlier than expected. So instead of paying $4.00 / gallon for regular gas you might be paying $3.75, but something is better than nothing. Heres an article from AP on yahoo announcing the goodish news.

AP
Bush says rebates going out Monday will boost economy
Friday April 25, 11:46 pm ET
By Tom Raum, Associated Press Writer 
Bush says tax rebates going out Monday will help people afford rising gas, food prices

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush said tax rebates will start going out Monday, earlier than previously announced, and should help Americans cope with rising gasoline and food prices, as well as aid a slumping economy. Democrats said they were glad the rebate checks were about to go out, but suggested that multinational oil companies were not among the businesses the stimulus package was originally designed to help.
     “Starting Monday, the effects of the stimulus will begin to reach millions of households across our country,” Bush said Friday in remarks on the South Lawn of the White House. Those first rebates will be directly deposited into people’s bank accounts.
     The Internal Revenue Service had been saying direct deposits wouldn’t start until next Friday. Bush said paper checks would begin going out on May 9, a week earlier than previously announced.

Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click Here for Complete Story

On February 8th I wrote about the Bush Tax Rebate and what people could expect. Bush signed H.R. 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 into law on February 13th. Being an inquiring mind I have sifted through and dug out the answers to questions I wanted answered. I have summarized them below. If you want to see the full IRS article because the information you need has not been listed, click here.

1 – Will I have to claim the rebate as income on my 2008 taxes.
      NO! The tax stimulus rebate will not count as income when you file your taxes in 2008, it will not be  used to increase your taxable income.

2 - Will my refund be reduced if I owe any current or back taxes?
      YES! In this case it would be treated like any other refund and would be first applied to any outstanding liabilities owed to the IRS.

3 – When will I get my rebate and how?
      The IRS hopes to begin distributing the stimulus rebate by May. People who recieve their refunds or make payments directly from their bank accounts will get the refund quickest. If you use direct deposit and chose to use the multiple account option , it will be allocated as you specified or your refund.

Who’s excited about the tax rebate? Not me. I was thinking about it and on the outside it seems nice, but upon further investigation , its just adding insult to injury. I am looking at potentially receiving $1,200. Not bad. Consider this; I have a 4 cylinder car, with a 13 gal. / 14 gal. tank. It costs me $46 to fill @ $3.29 per gallon. By the time May / June rolls around they are talking $4 + so now it is going to cost me $56 every two weeks. Heating and Electric run me another $150 or so per month. Then another $100 a month to keep my car insured so I can get to my job. Plus , $50 a month so my kids can watch Hanna Montana.

 So I am up to $415 and I have not even bought food to feed myself or my kids. The average family probably spends $100 to $150 per week on groceries since those have gone up substantially as well. So we will say $400, brining us to $815 per month.

Then there is rent , student loans , credit card debt, and so forth. I am not sure if this is what they had in mind when they wanted to stimulate the economy. I am not running out to buy a T.V. or put a deposit down on a new car. All the check is going to do , assuming we still get one, is help not play beat the bank for one month. I hope there are others out there working hard , and in a position to use it to have some fun. I guess I will just have to live vicariously through them.

Congress Sends $168 Billion Economic Stimulus to Bush (Update2)
By Alison Fitzgerald and Brian Faler

 Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Congress passed and sent to President George W. Bush a $168 billion economic stimulus package that he said is needed to help boost the slowing economy.

The legislation would send tax rebate checks to more than 111 million households, probably beginning in May. Lawmakers yesterday altered an earlier plan by making 20 million senior citizens and 250,000 disabled veterans eligible for the rebates. Bush said he will sign the measure.

“I want to thank the members for passing a good piece of legislation, which I will sign into law next week,” Bush said today in a speech to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

In addition to the rebates and incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment, the measure increases the size of mortgage loans that government-chartered mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy.

Bloomberg.Com – Click for Complete Story

Finance committee gives nod to stimulus measures. Proposals to give tax rebates to seniors and aid the unemployed gain support. Next step: Full Senate vote.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
January 30 2008: 6:36 PM EST
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday approved a proposal intended to curb a further slowdown in the economy. The proposal, which differs from a bill overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by the House, could be introduced as a bill and voted on by the full Senate as early as Thursday. Lawmakers are aiming to send final legislation to President Bush by Feb. 15.

The committee meeting took place the same day that the government issued a report that economic growth in the last quarter of 2007 was weaker than expected and the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate another 50 basis points following its emergency move last week that lowered the federal funds rate by 75 points.

 CNN.Money.Com – Click for Complete Story

**Updated to include elderly and disabled veteran rebates**
Assuming democrats don’t mess things up, chances are this is how its going to break down:

Under the agreement announced by the White House, individual taxpayers who earned enough to pay federal taxes would get up to $600 in rebates, working couples $1,200 and those with children an additional $300 per child.

The Bill sent to President Bush would give $300 tax-rebate checks to those whose Social Security benefits, veterans’ disability payments and earned income totaled a minimum of $3,000 last year.

Adjusted Gross Income is more than $3,000 but owed little to no taxes would get $300 or $600 for couple + $300 per child

Adjusted Gross Income is less than  $75,000 , rebate would be equal to the taxes paid in 2007 up to $600 + $300 per child

Adjusted Gross Income for couples less than $150,000 , rebate would be equal to the taxes paid in 2007 up to $1,200 + $300 per child

 For people who exceed these limits the rebate is reduced by 5% for every $1 over the limit. Example, if you made $85,000 you would be $10,000 over so $10,000 x .05 ( 5% ) = $500. $600 – $500 = $100, which would be your rebate. The plan would allow for people not eligible based on 2007 income to qualify again in 2009 based on their 2008 taxes. The government hopes to start sending rebates in mid-may and complete payments in 10 weeks.

 Finance.Yahoo.Com – Click for Complete Story

Who says the IRS is not your friend. There will be several changes for tax season 07′ that may save you money or let you earn more without paying more in taxes.

1) The Personal and dependency exemption increases to $3,400 from $3,300.

2)The taxable income seperating the 15% bracket from the 25% bracket for married filing jointly will be $63,700, up from $61,300. 

3) The standard deduction is up $400 to $10,700 for married filing jointly,  $5,350 for married filing seperately, and up $300 to $7,850 for head of households.