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Name:
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GoneFishin
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Subject:
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Which bad economic news?
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Date:
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3/1/2013 9:48:42 PM
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I did not make it up. This is direct from the article posted. You need to stop acting like a liberal and read what you post before not after.
"Monthly income was unusually
high in December because companies paid out early dividends to
avoid upcoming tax hikes. Companies like Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500), Oracle (ORCL, Fortune 500),
and Costco
Wholesale Corp paid special dividends to their shareholders at
the end of 2012, instead of waiting until 2013.
In doing so, they helped their
high-income shareholders (individuals earning at least $400,000 a year, or
married couples earning $450,000) avoid paying higher taxes on their gains. In
their last-minute
fiscal cliff deal, lawmakers decided to raise dividend tax rates for
high-income households from 15% to 20%.
The payroll tax
cut's expiration also played a role in January's drop, because
most workers have to pay 2 percentage points more in taxes this year. The
Commerce Department's "personal income" calculation subtracts out
individuals' contributions to government social insurance programs like Social
Security, which are funded by the payroll tax.
Excluding those special factors,
the Commerce Department estimates that after-tax income actually increased 0.3%
in January."
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