Blogging Documents

The recent recovery bills, corporate bail-outs and loss of jobs have created a flurry of emotions amongst Americans – anger, hope, frustration, disbelief – you name it, someone has run the gamut of any emotion possible. With emotions, some times, comes actions.

An emotional outcry from Congressman Rick Santelli gave rise to a grassroots movement known as Tax Day Tea Party. This grassroots movement has been organizing protests to the bailouts, federal budget, and most recent stimulus plan. Taking it’s name from one of the most memorable protests in America’s history, the Boston Tea Party, the group is using a historical frame of reference to rally American’s to support their cause.

On the other side of the issue is President Obama’s grassroots movement, Organizing for America.This is a grassroots movement that asked supporters to collect signatures pledging support to Obama and his now passed budget.

As a neutral commentator, I cannot offer an opinion on the actions, plans, or proposals of either group.  As an english-major turned documents librarian, I would love to offer a semiotic analysis of the names and images displayed on the website… what these are meant to evoke and invoke. But alas, my day is nearly done and this needs to posted, so my literary rant will have to wait for another day or another political topic.

Access this story at NewsOn6.com or here

TULSA, OK – If you have an over-due parking ticket, now is the time to pay up.

Mayor
Kathy Taylor has announced an amnesty period from April 6-24 for people
to pay their late parking tickets without late fees or court costs.

Tulsa Municipal Courts officials say that there are $2.2 million in unpaid parking tickets in the city.

Payment
of outstanding parking citations may be made at the cashier’s windows
at City Hall in the One Technology Center, 175 E. 2nd St. Payments can
be made in cash, money order, personal check or with Mastercard or Visa
credit and debit cards.

Anyone who does not know the citation
numbers or how many tickets are outstanding can go to the cashier’s
window with license tag information and the cashier can locate unpaid
citations for the vehicle tag number.

Vehicles already declared
public nuisances under city ordinances and placed on the list for
towing will be removed from the tow list upon payment of citations.

Any
vehicle with two or more outstanding parking citations may be declared
a public nuisance and may be booted or towed and impounded until fines,
late fees and court costs are paid.

Following the amnesty period, the City will begin an intense effort to collect outstanding parking citations.

The Presidential radio address is something that I have often heard spoken of, but have never actually heard. After hearing a soundbite from a recent radio address, I started thinking about President Obama’s committment to transparency in government and how he is using current technologies to reach the masses, or the tech-savvy masses that is.

A brief history of the radio address: Franklin Roosevelt gave the first radio address on March 12, 1933, a mere 8 days after his inauguration. Roosevelt used the radio addresses, which came to be known as the fireside chats, as a way to build support for his New Deal programs. At the time 90% of households had a radio and FDR’s addresses were wildly popular. Access a video of the March 12, 1933 radio address here .

The radio address is a tool that’s been used by presidents between FDR and Obama. It seems that President Obama is morphing the address from one on the radio to one on the web.

Transcripts and wave files of President Bush’s weekly addresses were posted at WhiteHouse.gov, but President Obama is taking it one step further, making the weekly addresses available at WhiteHouse.gov, YouTube, and iTunes as well (or so I’ve heard). Just like FDR, Obama wants to reach people, and he’s using the tools at hand to do so. A March 2009 Nielsen Wire posting notes that 80% of American households have a computer and of those 92% have internet access. This is not quite the 90% that Roosevelt had, but a good showing. Plus, I’ve searched and searched but can’t seem to locate a local radio station that airs the weekly address. If there is one, let me know… otherwise tune into the web to hear what our government has in store for next week.

Tulsa’s Fox 23 News reported this morning about the changes in income requirements to qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from the IRS. Access the full story here.

Fox 23 had CPA’s on hand to help Tulsa area residents determine if they’re eligible for the EITC. If you happened to miss the chance to phone into Fox 23, you can visit the IRS website’s EITC page and use the EITC Assistant to determine eligibility. 

There is free tax assistance around Tulsa. Access a list of sites here.

Branches throughout the Tulsa City-County Library system have received countless questions about what immediate relief is coming from President Obama’s American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. The answer is… some, but not much. Here is a small attempt to answer some of the questions and clarify the confusion.

Could this legislation affect 2008 tax returns? Generally, no. The new legislation does not have any major impact for the vast majority of individuals preparing their 2008 tax returns due April 15. Instead, these changes will largely impact 2009 tax returns filed next year, in 2010. Taxpayers should continue to prepare their 2008 tax returns as they normally would.

So what’s in this legislation for Americans in the short term?
The Making Work Pay Tax Credit will affect many Americans in the short term. This credit will begin to appear immediately in your paycheck, as withholdings will be adjusted by your employer to money more immediately where you need it, in your pocket. Taxpayers who do not have taxes withheld by an employer will receive this credit when their 2009 taxes are filed.

There’s also The Economic Recovery Payment, a one time $250 payment for retirees, disabled individuals and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration, disabled veterans receiving benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or Railroad Retirement beneficiaries. There is no form to file for this payment. The check will come directly from SSA, VA or the Railroad Retirement Board. Checks will begin to be mailed in May 2009.

The long term holds the greatest promise of tax provisions from this legislation, which will come in 2009 and 2010.
Here is an explanation from the IRS, Tax Provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and a full summary of provisions.