Word: tippings
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...earn--up from the $68,400 threshold in 1998. That's a 6.1% hike, a rate that is roughly double the pay increase most wage earners will see. For anyone whose income exceeds that higher level, it means an extra $260.40 a year owed to the feds. Tip: earnings stashed in a flexible-spending account at work are exempt from FICA withholding. In a two-earner household, it may pay for the lower earner to fund the account...
...than 100,000 people were subject to the AMT. It's a complicated tax that targets folks who avoid most traditional income taxes through large credits and deductions. High earners in high-tax states are most vulnerable, but anyone taking a large deduction for business expenses can fall victim. Tip: consult a pro. Avoiding the AMT may call for such radical action as accelerating income and deferring deductions, which is precisely the opposite of normal strategy...
...their mutual funds, even if those funds lost money. More than 30% of stock funds were down through November, and 11% of those--including such popular funds as Heartland Value, Lindner Dividend, Brandywine and Templeton Growth--also distributed a taxable capital gain to shareholders, says fund-research company Wiesenberger. Tip: taxable distributions typically result from rapid-fire trading. This year, look for funds with a low turnover rate, something less than 100%. Stock index funds are among the most tax efficient. And never invest in a stock fund just ahead of its annual distribution, usually in November or December...
...selection will undoubtedly raise knotty issues as well. Societies that value boys more highly than girls, including China and India, are already out of balance; this could tip the scales even further. Such an outcome is unlikely in the U.S., where surveys show that equal numbers of parents want girls as boys. But the same polls report that Americans believe an ideal family has a boy as the oldest child. Boys often end up being more assertive and more dominant than girls, as do firstborn children; skewing the population toward doubly dominant firstborns could make it even harder...
...government does try to ban certain eugenic maneuvers, some rich parents will visit clinics in more permissive nations, then come home to bear their tip-top children. (Already, British parents have traveled to Saudi Arabia to choose their baby's sex in vitro, a procedure that is illegal at home.) Even without a ban, it will be upper-class parents who can afford pricey genetic technologies. Children who would in any event go to the finest doctors and schools will get an even bigger head start on health and achievement...