Tax Bracket

Although we still don't know the changes in the Internal Revenue Code that Congress may pass, you can be sure of one thing if your tax bracket's rate is, or will be, 28 percent or higher:If you want to own fixed-income securities outside of a tax-sheltered savings plan, take some time to study municipal bond mutual funds, whose income is exempt from federal income tax.Ads for these funds and individual municipal bonds may have slighted their risks in...

Tax-weary residents may find themselves victims of a double whammy Monday when County Executive Charles I. Ecker presents his fiscal 1993operating budget to the County Council.Ecker says he cannot ruleout higher local taxes even though the General Assembly increased a variety of state taxes last week."Hopefully, we won't have to do it on the county level, too," Ecker said.Individuals with incomes of $100,000 or more, and coupleswith combined incomes of $150,000 or more have already been hit by the state increases.

Many online retailers continue to enjoy an unfair advantage over brick-and-mortar merchants across the country, and that will persist until Congress takes much-needed action and makes mandatory the payment of state sales taxes on Internet (and catalog) purchases. This advantage comes about because unless remote retailers have an in-state presence, they don't have to collect state sales taxes. In Maryland's case, that means purchases of computers at Dell are not taxed, but those at Gateway, with stores here, are - a 5 percent edge for Dell.

BEYOND THE WATER'S EDGEThe president countered talk of American decline, declaring that victory in the Cold War leaves the United States preeminent, trusted to act with restraint and lead support for freedom everywhere. He rejected a retreat from the world stage.With the Soviet empire gone, the United States will revamp its nuclear weaponry and scrap a decades-old modernization policy. Deeper cuts are proposed in a swap with former Soviet republics: If they wipe out land-based, multiple warhead missiles, the United States will eliminate MX; cut Minuteman to one warhead; remove two of three warheads on sea-based missiles; and take nuclear arms off many bombers.

Bush's budget shows compassion for the taxpayers "There's not much compassion in this conservative president's first budget," said The Sun's editorial "Bush's budget -- good, the bad, the ugly" (April 15). I can understand where a consumer of federal tax expenditures may feel that way. But as a producer of federal tax revenues, I think the budget is very compassionate. This $1.96 trillion budget is a four percent increase over last year. That is a pretty big budget and a reasonable increase by anyone's standards.

ANNAPOLIS -- The General Assembly finally passed a budget yesterday, rammed through a nearly half-billion dollar tax package and bid good riddance to the divisive 1992 legislative session.The taxes will mean Marylanders will pay a nickel more a gallon at the pump for gasoline, 20 cents more a pack for cigarettes, and $8 more for annual car registrations.They also will pay higher taxes on pretzels, chips and other snack foods, for car phones, newspapers, personal pagers, salads or sandwiches in grocery stores, pay-per-view TV and other goods and services that until now have escaped the tax collector's reach.

Havre de Grace. -- I guess this isn't doomsday. The sun is still shining. The birds are singing. The fire and brimstone must have been delayed.We're supposed to say thanks to the groggy members of the Maryland legislature. But they would have deserved a lot more credit if a few more of them hadn't gone along to get along. When the General Assembly ended its regular session last Monday without approving any of the substantial tax increases Governor Schaefer thought Marylanders deserved, it was hard to tell whether this inaction was attributable to courage or to terror.

Every May, when I was little, Mother would go through an annual ritual in our Pikesville home called "spring cleaning."Grim-faced and determined, she compulsively emptied and dusted the kitchen closets, scrubbed the dishes, took down the heavy winter drapes, "slip-covered" the couch and chairs for summer, beat the dirt from the carpets and hung out all of my heavy wool suits and coats to air. ("Son, have you bathed recently?")Recalling that ancient rite of spring, Ticker presents, 65 years later, a 1992 spring checkup -- this one for your money:(1)

The buying panic continued on Wall Street yesterday as the Dow Jones industrial average surged 33.89 points and closed at a record 4,303.98. But as one local broker put it, "Let's not get carried away; we're just playing 'catch-up ball' after last year's miserable showing."In less than four months since New Year's Day, the Dow has climbed 469 points, or 12 percent, above its Jan. 1 level of 3,834.44.PICKING WINNERS: "Small-capitalization stocks rise at a rate consistently faster than other types of investment," says Marcus Robbins, president, Red Chip Review, a research service that analyzes 300 "small-cap" companies.

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans scrambled yesterday to ensure speedy approval in the House and Senate -- perhaps as soon as today -- of their $792 billion tax plan. At the same time, President Clinton reiterated his vow to veto it.In the final version of the compromise crafted by Republican House and Senate negotiators, the timing of the income tax-rate cuts was adjusted to give the earliest breaks to those at the bottom of the income scale.Taxpayers in the lowest tax bracket -- 15 percent -- would see a cut to 14.5 percent in 2001 and to 14 percent in 2003.