Rebate

Marylanders who wait until March to switch to certain energy-efficient electric water heaters, refrigerators and clothes washers will be eligible for a federal "cash for appliances" rebate, according to the Maryland Energy Administration. The U.S. Department of Energy approved Maryland's proposal for the energy-efficient appliances rebate program Thursday. The state's share is $5.4 million, paid for by stimulus plan dollars. Under the approved terms, consumers can apply for a $300 rebate after purchasing an electric heat pump water heater, which is more energy-efficient than standard electric water heaters.

Maryland's state government desperately wants you to plug up your leaky house in order to use less electricity. To get homeowners on board, the Empower Maryland program is offering 50 percent rebates of up to $3,150 on retrofit projects that make your home more energy efficient. The goal is simple: reduce electricity usage while reducing Maryland's greenhouse gases. Many homeowners would be surprised at how much they can save on their utility bills - and how quickly their up-front investment gets paid back.  Under the program, Greg Baggan of Canton learned he had been heating the equivalent of three homes, when he only owns one. An energy audit revealed that all the leaks in his home, when combined, equated to a 4 square-foot hole in his small row house.

Didn't get an economic stimulus check last year? Or, maybe your rebate check was smaller than the maximum amount? If so, you might be eligible for rebate recovery. The Internal Revenue Services announced this week that taxpayers will be able to recover a rebate if they are now eligible for the money but weren't before. The maximum is $600 for individuals; $1,200 for couples. Plus, parents can receive up to $300 per qualified child. The stimulus payments were based on financial information that appeared on 2007 returns, although technically it was a 2008 credit.

Insurance companies are expected to pay out nearly $1.3 billion in rebates this summer because they haven't complied with a provision under health care reform that they devote more money to health care and less on administrative costs and profit, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Marylanders will receive $37.7 million from four insurance providers, according to the report. Kaiser did not name the insurers, but said the average rebate for Marylanders will be $293.50.

AAA, Goodwill offer "Luggage Trade-In/Trade-Up" program What's the deal? Donate your gently used luggage to Goodwill Industries retail stores and receive a discount voucher good for the purchase of new luggage from local AAA Mid-Atlantic stores. What are the savings? For every piece of gently used luggage dropped off at one of Goodwill's donation centers by April 16, donors will receive a discount voucher good for 40 percent off a piece of Antler Luggage or $25 off a luggage purchase of $50 or more.

BOSTON - And so we head once more - bloodied but pumped up - into the great tax rebellion of 2001: The Tax Rebate Rebellion. When we first entered the fray some weeks ago, the rebate revolt was simmering on the Internet. We were among those who decided - as TV chef Emeril Lagasse would say - to kick it up a notch. We challenged those who opposed the Bush tax cut to put their rebate where their politics were. Those who didn't really need it could donate some or all of the $300 to $600 coming their way to fund their own public policy.

Last week's column about the IRS trying to clear up confusion over the tax rebates generated still more questions from readers. This week, the IRS is making another effort to get the word out on rebates, which are part of new legislation to help the economy. Beginning this week and continuing for the next two, the IRS will mail letters to more than 130 million taxpayers to remind them to file a 2007 tax return. That's one of the requirements for getting a tax rebate. The agency will follow up in late March with another letter to certain recipients of Social Security and Veterans Affairs benefits.

The Internal Revenue Service moved quickly after the economic stimulus package was passed this month to get the word out about who will get the tax rebates of $300 to $1,200. Since then, confusion has grown. One misconception is that the rebate will be taxed as income on next year's return, says IRS acting Commissioner Linda Stiff. Another is that the rebate will reduce next year's refund. With misinformation swirling, the IRS recently took another stab at clarifying the rebate rules.

Didn't get your tax rebate yet? It could be your name. That's what Kassandra Palazzo discovered. Palazzo for seven years has filed a joint tax return with her husband, and the New York couple never had trouble getting their refunds. But when their economic stimulus check didn't arrive, they contacted the IRS. As it turns out, Palazzo used her married name on the tax return, but the name she has on file with Social Security is her maiden name. That caused the holdup on the rebate. You can, of course, continue using your maiden name after marriage.

ANNAPOLIS -- The Maryland health department did by regulation yesterday what the legislature twice failed to do: require pharmaceutical companies to give the state an estimated $2.5 million annual rebate for drugs purchased under programs to help the poor.Pharmaceutical companies opposed the rebate proposal, which was approved 13-0 by a legislative oversight committee. The companies said it is impossible to estimate the savings because that is a function of which drugs are purchased and their unit costs.

Tax rebates and incentives for the "Superblock" project sound innocuous, but let's call these programs what they really are - subsidies funded by the taxpayers of Baltimore. Will the 296 apartments to be built in the Superblock need police and fire protection? Will they need their garbage collected? Will the residents attend school, use a park or drive on a street? If they do, but do not pay taxes to cover the cost, then the rest of the homeowners in Baltimore will be stuck with the tab. While the project's developers enjoy 20 years of tax breaks, the rest of us who are less well-connected at City Hall can expect to suffer crushing property taxes, escalating fees and reduced city services.

Last year, Jane Kuhl and her husband qualified for a state-run program that promised a 50 percent rebate to homeowners installing energy-saving insulation. The couple spent more than $6,700 plugging holes and insulating their Harford County farmhouse, which was originally built in the late 1800s. For their work, they received a 35 percent rebate from the state, along with a 15 percent rebate from their utility. Happy at first, they were later surprised and disappointed to find out that they owe income taxes on the $2,461 received from the state.

The last couple of times Constellation Energy tried to sell all or part of itself to an out-of-state company, Gov. Martin O'Malley's focus was almost entirely on the pocketbooks of two groups: Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers, and Constellation CEO Mayo A. Shattuck III and his fellow executives. In 2006, Mr. O'Malley, then a candidate for governor, successfully sued to force the Public Service Commission to reconsider a 72 percent rate hike and to take into account the potential benefits of Constellation's planned merger with Florida Power & Light.

It seems that Baltimore is keeping pace with the rest of the country and the world: It's getting hotter. On Aug. 1, The Sun reported that July was the hottest July - actually the hottest month - ever for Baltimore. One day later, we learned that the city's 30-year average had risen half a degree above the last average. I'm scared. I can handle a record-high temperature so long as I know that it's an exception and that it will go back down. But what is being reported here is a trend - one with no end in sight.

State officials have added additional money to a popular program that offers rebates for energy-efficient home improvements. So far, nearly 700 Maryland residents have been reimbursed through the Maryland Home Performance Rebate Program, exhausting the $1 million in federal stimulus dollars originally redirected to the program in January, according to the Maryland Energy Administration. Through the program, residents can get a rebate for 35 percent of the costs of qualifying efficiency projects, such as whole-house air sealing, duct replacement or insulation.

AAA, Goodwill offer "Luggage Trade-In/Trade-Up" program What's the deal? Donate your gently used luggage to Goodwill Industries retail stores and receive a discount voucher good for the purchase of new luggage from local AAA Mid-Atlantic stores. What are the savings? For every piece of gently used luggage dropped off at one of Goodwill's donation centers by April 16, donors will receive a discount voucher good for 40 percent off a piece of Antler Luggage or $25 off a luggage purchase of $50 or more.

BOSTON - OK, so you were an opponent of the tax cut. You called the president's "tax relief" a four-letter word: s-c-a-m. You ranted about how the $1.3 trillion cut would benefit the rich at the expense of the rest. When you heard about the $300 rebate, you sneered, "Oh goody, I'm rich." You figured that could pay for a month of your mom's prescription drugs or buy three sets of silver-plated place card holders from Saks Fifth Avenue. And when you discovered that 35 million low-income workers would get no rebate at all, you just about went apoplectic.

This story began in August, when I responded to a "one weekend only" sale of a laptop computer with "free wireless router, Internet security suite and all-in-one printer, scanner and copier" after a $300 mail-in rebate. The story finally ended last month after a lengthy and frustrating but ultimately successful effort to get my $300. Along the way I learned a few tricks of the mail-in rebate game, including the importance of keeping records, not taking no for an answer and complaining directly to the store that advertised the rebate if you are having problems with the product's manufacturer.

An additional $1 million is expected to be paid out to Marylanders in rebates as part of the federal stimulus program known as "cash for appliances," state energy officials announced Thursday. Originally $5.4 million was allocated to Maryland for energy-efficient appliance rebates under the American Recovery and Reinvestment program. However, when the Maryland Energy Administration announced last month that the money had nearly run out, officials pledged to honor valid applications that were received by Nov. 12 by moving funds from the Clean Energy Economic Development Initiative program.