Estate Taxes

Dear Mr. Azrael:I would like to know if there is any way that I can take over and manage my own escrow account. (My lender) recently did not pay my town taxes, and I have gone through a lot of hassle trying to rectify this problem. I would like to know what the rights of a consumer are when the mortgage company is not handling an escrow account properly.Barbara E. SnyderPerryvilleDear Ms. Snyder:Many mortgage lenders require the borrower to maintain an escrow account to pay real estate taxes and property insurance.

Legislation giving lucrative tax breaks to developers of hotels and other major projects in downtown Baltimore cleared the General Assembly last night in the waning hours of the 90-day session.The measure, a priority of downtown development advocates, received overwhelming approval from the Senate and House of Delegates, despite complaints from some Baltimore community groups about the bill's favored treatment of politically connected developers, such as bakery magnate John Paterakis Sr.The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 46-1, with Baltimore Democrat Perry Sfikas the lone dissenter, and the House by 115-19.

WASHINGTON -- Courting accusations of economic recklessness from Democrats and fiscal timidity from his Republican rivals, George W. Bush will unveil today an economic plan that includes modest reductions in tax rates, an end to estate taxes and a reduction in the "marriage penalty" levied on some two-income couples.The Republican presidential front-runner is already facing criticism from his Republican foes that his proposal is far too modest, because he has rejected the sweeping changes to the tax code that other candidates have embraced.

Lawmakers in Annapolis are eyeing legislation sought by Realtors to lower Maryland's high real estate closing costs. But the effort faces stiff opposition from bankers and local officials, who stand to lose millions of dollars.A bill is pending before the House of Delegates that would require all Maryland property owners to pay their real estate taxes in semiannual installments, ending the current practice of collecting the taxes annually. A similar bill is before a Senate committee.House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. touted the legislation yesterday as "a solution to Maryland's very high closing costs" and the equivalent of a tax refund for hundreds of thousands of homeowners.

HOW CAN you protect your parents' finances as they age and face possible illness?Black Enterprise magazine says, "Now is the time to get a handle on Mom and Dad's money matters. It could make the difference between a comfortable retirement or tarnished golden years."It suggests talking with your parents about the problem -- just before retirement is the best time -- and asking some questions: Where are your financial records? How can I pay your routine bills, if necessary? Have you given one of your children a power of attorney?

ANNAPOLIS' city officials don't have anything against the First Amendment. It's paying for someone else's free speech that they oppose.Annapolis officials want to bill large groups for the cost of police and cleanup when they visit the state capital to rally for a cause.The 34,000 people who happen to make Annapolis their home shouldn't have to foot the bill for everyone who wants to sound off near the State House, the officials contend.Their argument has merit, but it may be overwhelmed by the specious charge that Annapolis' city fathers are undermining free speech.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton will announce today a revised tax-cutting proposal that his aides describe as an effort to give middle-class taxpayers somewhat deeper reductions than those passed overwhelmingly by the Senate on Friday, but one that accepts a number of the main concepts pressed by Republicans.In a presentation at the White House, Clinton is expected to endorse, for the first time, tax proposals that would create education savings accounts that are similar to individual retirement accounts.

IF THOMAS W. REDMOND SR. wants to restore his political credibility, the Anne Arundel County councilman from Pasadena should pay his delinquent county real estate taxes quickly.Owing nearly $12,000 in real estate taxes on his business property is a sure-fire way to undermine his standing with voters as well as his colleagues on the council.Politically, few things could be worse for an elected official than to be delinquent on his taxes. Taxes are supposed to be a shared burden. At present, county residents who are current with their taxes, and who pay Mr. Redmond's $26,000 council salary, are shouldering the costs of running the county government -- without any help from him.Mr.

Headlines in yesterday's Sports section incorrectly characterized the status of the Cooke family's ownership of the Washington Redskins as a result of Jack Kent Cooke's death. There are no plans to sell the team.The Sun regrets the errors.Jack Kent Cooke's legacy of achievement ranges from blockbuster real estate deals to Super Bowls, but for his heirs, one of his most momentous feats may simply be keeping the Washington Redskins in the family after his death.Sports franchises have grown so valuable so quickly that heirs may not have enough money to pay the estate taxes.

C An auction to sell the goods of the reclusive Elizabeth C. "Nancy" Smith -- the owner of 300 acres of undeveloped farmland in the middle of Columbia, who died in February -- has been scheduled May 18 and 19.The sale will be held at the Towson auction company, Alex Cooper's, beginning at 10 a.m. each day. Though a complete inventory is not available, china, jewelry, furniture and paintings are among the items that will be auctioned.Smith's home -- dubbed Bland-air for Theodorick Bland, a 19th century politician and judge who once owned it -- had become rundown over the years, said friends and associates, though Smith's lawyers put the worth of her assets, excluding real estate, at $4.5 million.

It's good to be average this tax season. That's because the average federal refund is up 9 percent over a year ago. The typical refund as of March 6 is $2,811, compared with $2,576 for a similar period a year ago, the latest figures from the Internal Revenue Service show. Thank some new tax breaks as well as inflation adjustments to more than two dozen items, including tax brackets. "If your income was the same year over year, it is possible that you could be in an even lower tax bracket and your tax would be lower," says Barbara Weltman, author of J.K. Lasser's 1001 Deductions & Tax Breaks.

For months, Baltimore's top Democrats have focused almost exclusively on crime and education in their bids for citywide office. But whoever wins in Tuesday's primary election will face four years of other daunting problems -- including many that have barely registered during the campaign. Bumpy roads and leaky sewers. Persistent pockets of poverty and neighborhoods riddled with abandoned homes. An increasingly clogged transportation system and a regional competition to attract relocating military workers.

Older Americans can give portions of their retirement funds to charity and collect some nice tax breaks in return, but they'll have to act fast. Under legislation signed into law this year, individual retirement account holders older than 70 1/2 can withdraw in 2006 and 2007 up to $100,000 from the accounts tax-free if it goes to charitable organizations. And while the money is excluded from taxable income and thus not eligible to be deducted again on tax returns, it does count toward the account owner's required minimum distribution for IRA withdrawals.

Maryland's local governments have enjoyed several years of surging revenues because of a real estate boom that propelled home sales and values to record levels. But the onset of a real estate slowdown has them preparing for leaner times. Local officials expect a sharp drop in transfer and recordation tax revenues that are generated when a property changes hands or is refinanced. "I've been predicting a slowdown of this revenue for five years. Finally, I'm right," said John Hammond, Anne Arundel County's budget director, who budgeted for a 25 percent drop in real estate tax revenues - $105 million for the fiscal year that started July 1, down from $130 million in the last fiscal year.

The federal government is moving to eliminate the jobs of nearly half of the lawyers at the Internal Revenue Service who audit tax returns of some of the wealthiest Americans, specifically those who are subject to gift and estate taxes when they transfer parts of their fortunes to their children and others. The administration plans to cut the jobs of 157 of the agency's 345 estate tax lawyers, plus 17 support personnel, in less than 70 days. Kevin Brown, an IRS deputy commissioner, confirmed the cuts after The New York Times was given internal documents by people inside the IRS who oppose them.

Federal tax benefits for homeownership are among the heftiest and most popular of any in the Internal Revenue Code: An estimated $81 billion for mortgage interest write-offs, $15 billion for local real estate taxes and another $24 billion for capital gains exclusions this year alone, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. But who really gets these tax-code goodies? Who gets to write off the most? New research offers intriguing insights into where the billions of dollars in annual mortgage interest and real estate tax deductions flow, state by state, congressional district by congressional district.

A potpourri of tax cuts passed in 2001 left Americans hanging, unsure whether to plan for their future based on tax benefits that were scheduled to vanish between 2006 and 2010. The $70 billion tax bill passed by Congress last week provides a couple more years of certainty about capital gains and dividends and gives affluent people their first opportunity to have Roth IRAs. But a significant amount of uncertainty remains. For example, families planning to send their children to college after 2010 still can't count on 529 college savings plan money to be free of taxes when the tuition bills start rolling in. And wealthy people who want to avoid the estate tax completely still must die in 2010 - not a year before or later.

My wife and I pur- chased a second home in April specifically for the purpose of letting my son, daughter-in-law and our grandchild live in this home until they can afford a mortgage. They are in the process of applying for the mortgage. Since they don't have much money, I hate to see them pay high Maryland settlement costs and obtain a mortgage with today's higher interest rates. What options do we have? I don't want, nor can my wife and I afford, to outright give this home to my son. Can we have him pay us "rent" until the home is paid off and then at that time, just add him and my daughter-in-law to the title of the home?

Caps not cause of discrepancies in property tax Maryland's property tax system is a shambles. However, The Sun's article "Homebuyers fume at tax differences" (July 31) falsely suggested that the only cause of the problem of unequal taxes is the property tax caps enacted to protect existing homeowners at the expense of new buyers. The real culprit is that the state's system for assessing properties is completely arbitrary and irrational. In Mount Vernon alone, nearly identical properties can have underlying assessments that vary by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We are in the process of buying a new home. We have informed the lender, Chase Manhattan Bank, that we would like to pay our real estates taxes directly to Harford County and homeowners insurance directly to the insurance company. Chase has informed us that to comply with our request, they will charge us 1/4 of one point of the amount mortgaged. Our down payment will be greater than 30 percent, which avoids the requirements for PMI insurance and an escrow account for real estate taxes. The question is, can Chase legally collect a charge from us for not escrowing our real estate taxes and homeowners insurance in the state of Maryland?