Author: James

For some gays in America, a legal victory becomes a tax headache
By Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON | Mon Jul 22, 2013 4:57pm EDT

(Reuters) – Married Californians Jeremy Turpen and Randy Brock celebrated last month’s U.S. Supreme Court rulings on gay marriage. Now they face a tax headache.

Living in a state that recognizes gay marriage, they are entitled under the rulings to federal tax breaks enjoyed by other U.S. married couples such as tax-free, employer-provided healthcare for a spouse.

But still unclear is how they are to report the business income Brock gets from Florida, where same-sex marriage is not recognized.

For both the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service and America’s accountants, the answer is far from simple.

“I could talk to three different CPAs and get three different answers,” said Turpen, who lives with Brock in Capitola. “That’s not equality under the law from a financial perspective,” he said.

The high court ruled in June that the federal government must recognize same-sex marriages that are legal in 13 states and the District of Columbia for the purpose of federal taxes, granting them a range of tax benefits for healthcare, retirement plans and a surviving spouse.

But the court also ruled that states can go on setting their own policies on gay marriage.

https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/us-usa-tax-gaymarriage-idUSBRE96L0VZ20130722

NSA Says It Can’t Search Its Own Emails
by Justin Elliott
ProPublica, July 23, 2013, 12:39 p.m

The NSA is a “supercomputing powerhouse” with machines so powerful their speed is measured in thousands of trillions of operations per second. The agency turns its giant machine brains to the task of sifting through unimaginably large troves of data its surveillance programs capture.

But ask the NSA, as part of a freedom of information request, to do a seemingly simple search of its own employees’ email? The agency says it doesn’t have the technology.

“There’s no central method to search an email at this time with the way our records are set up, unfortunately,” NSA Freedom of Information Act officer Cindy Blacker told me last week.

The system is “a little antiquated and archaic,” she added.

I filed a request last week for emails between NSA employees and employees of the National Geographic Channel over a specific time period. The TV station had aired a friendly documentary on the NSA and I want to better understand the agency’s public-relations efforts.

A few days after filing the request, Blacker called, asking me to narrow my request since the FOIA office can search emails only “person by person,” rather than in bulk. The NSA has more than 30,000 employees.

https://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-says-it-cant-search-own-emails

Non-emergency calls clog 911 system in Ridgewood and beyond
Tuesday July 23, 2013, 9:52 AM
BY  LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

Some people call 911 after locking their keys in their car. Others have called when a neighbor played loud music. One time, a woman dialed 911 because a deer was eating her flowers – and then became argumentative when the dispatcher noted that it wasn’t a 911 emergency.

According to the director of Ridgewood’s local emergency dispatch service, dispatchers receive “an overwhelming majority” of 911 calls each year about non-emergency situations like these. This can be dangerous – especially during large-scale emergencies like severe storms, when dispatchers are forced to sift through these calls at the expense of real emergencies.

This summer, residents with heat concerns might also want to pause and consider the difference between 911 medical emergencies and less serious inquiries that would be better directed elsewhere.

“We do get inundated, almost to the point that it’s crippling, with calls that aren’t emergencies,” said Northwest Bergen Central Dispatch (NWBCD) Director Jack Tancos. “One of the things that frustrates me in my position is that the state really doesn’t do a [best-use awareness] campaign. … There’s a pretty serious misconception among the general population.”

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/216580751_Non-emergency_calls_clog_911_system_in_Ridgewood_and_beyond.html#sthash.mdfXNsDY.dpuf

New Jersey came in # 3 with 48.7% Growth in State Government Spending, 2001-2011
July 22, 2013
By Richard Borean

This week, we take a look at the growth in state government direct spending per capita between 2001 and 2011 in real dollars (to eliminate the effects of population growth and inflation). Louisiana leads the pack with a 63.6% increase in spending, followed by Wyoming (50.7%) and New Jersey (48.7%). On the other end of the spectrum, Alaska’s direct spending grew 8.9%, the lowest in the country. Close behind are West Virginia at 14.2% and South Carolina at 16.8%.

All maps and other graphics may be published and re-posted with credit to the Tax Foundation.

https://taxfoundation.org/blog/monday-map-growth-state-government-spending-2001-2011

Poll: Obama’s job approval plunges; Congress, especially GOP, still unpopular
By David Lightman | McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Stung by Americans’ persistent worries about the economy and a capital gripped by controversy and gridlock, President Barack Obama is suffering his lowest job approval numbers in nearly two years, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll.

The plummeting numbers – still higher than those of Congress – come after weeks of rising gasoline prices, revelations about domestic spying and turmoil in the Middle East.

The disappointing results come as the White House this week looks to turn the national conversation back to the economy. Obama will deliver the first of a series of speeches Wednesday aimed at offering his vision for boosting economic growth, even as the new poll found that just 37 percent of the respondents approved of his handling of the economy, while 56 percent disapproved.

Overall, the poll found Obama’s job approval at 41 percent last week, a sharp drop from April’s 50 percent and his worst showing in the poll since 39 percent in September 2011. Forty-eight percent disapproved in the latest poll, up from April’s 46 percent.

Read more here: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/22/197361/poll-obamas-job-approval-plunges.html#.Ue5sJax4m8F#storylink=cpy

Ridgewood Chamber Annual Side Walk Sale Days
Thu, August 01, 2013 – Sat, August 03, 2013
Time: 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Location: Memorial Park at Van Neste Park, East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ

Don’t forget to use your Ridgewood Rewards Card

For more Information Contact 201-445-2600