New 2001 Tax Rates

I have finally gotten around to updating the tax rate schedules for the recently enacted tax law. Most of the rates have only come down by half a percent; not a major change, but finally something in the right direction if you are among the silent minority who believe that tax rates are too high.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 7/30/2001 07:22:00 PM Send this post:

 
Super CPA

Back in the 1980s, I used to give various speeches about the "glamorous life" of a CPA. One of my props was a T-shirt resembling Superman's, except it had "CPA" instead of the normal "S." In my close, I would flip back my necktie and rip open my dress shirt to reveal the Super CPA. It was very popular.

I don't even remember where I bought that shirt or what has happened to it. I doubt if it made the trip to the Ozarks. I'm mentioning it now because there is a very similar shirt up for grabs on eBay. I was tempted to get it; but it's too small for my extra-large body. If you are a Super CPA or know someone who is, you should check this out.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 7/26/2001 12:29:00 PM Send this post:

 
It's About Time

For well over the past 25 years, I have been warning everyone that the entire Social Security system is a scam and helping people use the tax system aggressively to avoid pouring more money into it. As one of the very few voicing such blasphemy, I had been branded as a radical nut-case.

We are finally seeing more people realize and comment publicly on what a scam Social Security has been. It's great to see the increasing number of stories being published on this topic, such as this one.

A big word of warning. Just because more people are acknowledging the problem doesn't mean we are any closer to having the problem fixed. There have been countless stories over the past 50+ years about how the Feds waste tax dollars. With all of that publicity, you would think that everything would be cleaned up by now. However, the level of government waste is much worse now than it has ever been. My point is: If you are expecting our rulers in Washington to fix the Social Security system before you retire, don't hold your breath. As always, if you want to save that money for your retirement, you need to take steps of your own.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 7/26/2001 12:04:00 PM Send this post:

 
Staying Ahead of Viruses

This recent SirCam virus has made it very risky to check email. My email program for several years has been Eudora. Unfortunately, it just downloads everything without giving a preview list of what messages are waiting in the in-boxes.

Since I received my first SirCam virus mailing on Monday (7/23/01), I have resorted to pre-screening my email by using the free service at Mail2Web. This gives a listing of the individual mail items awaiting download. The SirCam virus messages are easy to spot. They all have attachments that are larger than 250 kb in size. So far, I have received about 20 such messages. Half have been from clients and the other half are from email adresses that I don't recognize. Using the Mail2Web service, I have just deleted them and then used my normal Eudora to download them into my normal filtering folders.

All of the virus protection services seem to have removal tools. The one I downloaded to check our computers was this from Symantec. So far, none of our computers has been infected; but if we don't continue to pre-screen and delete, it could very well happen.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 7/26/2001 11:26:00 AM Send this post:

 
Democrats = Communists

For well over a decade, I have been warning people of the evolution of the U.S. political party with a JackAss as its mascot into the one with the hammer & sickle as its. They used to at least pretend to care about the U.S. Constitution; but that is quickly disappearing.

Thanks to Neal Boortz in Atlanta for the heads-up on this article describing a meeting of our moral superiors in the JackAss Party and their agenda for this country. Considering that government schools no longer teach about the Constitution, and the mainstream media are controlled by lefties, they are very likely to succeed. For another look at their agenda, here it is.

Because I have been so backed up with work, I have had to find ways of trimming back on who I can work with. We have been screening existing & potential clients by several criteria; one of which is if they are in synch with our objectives of reducing their tax burden. While everyone seems to want their own taxes to be as low as possible, I have a serious problem with those who continue to support the politicians who are working overtime to take more money from the people who earn it and fight against those who are trying to reduce taxes.

KMK
- posted by Kerry M. Kerstetter, MBA~CPA~ATP~ATA @ 7/02/2001 03:01:00 PM Send this post: