Tax Credit

Two-thirds of Americans think the environment is getting worse, but most haven't made major changes to help the air, soil and water, according to recent Gallup polls. If you're one of the procrastinators, your number of excuses just got smaller. Thanks to the recently passed federal stimulus bill, Maryland energy grants and a maturation of the alternative energy industry, the incentives to go green in big ways and small are higher than they've ever been. Wind-generated electricity is the cheapest in history.

Name : Rob Bader Salary: $55,000 Age: 38 Years on the job: Four How he got started: Bader received his bachelor's degree from Siena College in New York and attended law school at the University of Toledo, graduating in 1995. He volunteered for a year while living in Boston, working in a soup kitchen and a legal aid office. He moved to Pennsylvania and worked as a legal aid attorney for the next six years. Although he was doing good work, Bader said it became somewhat monotonous, so he and his wife joined the Peace Corps, heading to Africa for two years.

Many of us have heard about some of the tax breaks in the stimulus package, but the details have been skimpy. Readers have been e-mailing me questions seeking clarification, particularly on the first-time homebuyer's credit. This credit is a revision of one passed last year that was worth 10 percent of the home's price - not to exceed $7,500 - on purchases from April 9 last year through June 30 this year. The catch: The credit was really an interest-free loan that must be repaid over 15 years.

This is tax season. Predictably, we are being bombarded with advertisements for same-day tax refunds by commercial tax-preparers selling high-priced refund loans and predatory tax preparation products. If only the advertising for the earned income tax credit (EITC) were as powerful and far-reaching as these commercial offerings, thousands of eligible taxpayers could receive the EITC and enjoy access to free tax preparation. EITC-eligible taxpayers filing their 2006 returns can receive a federal tax refund of up to $4,536 and a state tax refund of up to $907.

Harford County officials proposed an agricultural land tax credit yesterday intended to spur interest in saving farmland and help those who already have acreage in the preservation program. The credit would increase from $35 to $50 per acre, saving the average landowner about $1,000 annually in property taxes. More than 550 Harford farms would qualify for the incentive. "This is all about making Harford affordable for people who already live here," County Executive David R. Craig said yesterday, when he announced the proposal in Churchville.

Pity the poor window-film industry. Its products can substantially reduce heating and cooling bills, keep furniture from fading and stop glass from shattering in an earthquake. But almost inevitably, consumers think of the stuff as bubbly, tacky and cheap. "If you see a beautiful window, you assume it's the glass. You don't think anything about the film," said Darrell Smith, president of the International Window Film Association, based in Martinsville, Va. "But if you see a window that looks bad, you assume it's got `some of that film' on it."

If not for the state and county tax breaks that Nancy Crabtree receives on her Pasadena home, the 71-year-old widow doesn't know how she would pay her $1,800 property tax bill. The reductions brought her annual tax to $360, she said. "It's very well worth it," Crabtree said. "You tell me how you can afford everything on [an income of] $1,200 a month." Crabtree and other low-income seniors could be eligible to receive an additional 10 percent break under a bill that was scheduled to be introduced last night at a meeting of the Anne Arundel County Council.

Many people are reluctant to volunteer to do their own income tax return. A sizable number, however, find it rewarding to help others do theirs. Since 1969 the Internal Revenue Service has collaborated with community centers, colleges and other nonprofit organizations to offer low-income and moderate-income families a free tax preparation service. Today, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, as it's called, is made up of roughly 12,000 sites nationwide (some centers are designated specifically for taxpayers over age 60)

A bill aimed at nudging people out of their cars and onto mass transit was bolstered in Annapolis yesterday by a rare coalition of environmentalists and business groups."

WASHINGTON -- Critics of the tax-cut bill took mostly broad swipes at the measure yesterday, but one particular provision really ruffled their feathers: a tax credit for chicken manure."

The economy will not begin to recover until home prices stop falling. That's what smart people counseled a year ago as things collapsed from Wall Street to Los Angeles, and they were right. Well, home prices have stopped falling. Yesterday's Case-Shiller report, the best measure of nationwide housing values, showed that prices rose in July for the third month in a row. They're still way down from a year ago. But starting in May, prices began to rise from month to month. For the three-month period they're up 3.5 percent - $7,000 on a $200,000 house.

The latest statistics last week from the Census Bureau are grim. Household income has fallen sharply; poverty is up. And that's based on data from a year ago, when employment was in better shape. Even more so now, every penny counts. So is there any way to get extra money in your paycheck without asking the boss for a raise? One way is to get an advance on the Earned Income Tax Credit, a credit worth thousands of dollars to lower-income workers. Usually, people claim the credit on their tax returns.

Brothers Derek and Chad Ogle signed contracts this year for new homes in the same development, thinking they'd get the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers. But Ryland Homes, which started construction on the Harford County townhouses last month, says they aren't slated to be done until December - just after the credit is due to expire. Industry experts are warning that it's probably too late now to buy a new home and get the credit unless construction is already well along. A contract isn't enough.

It's one of the biggest unknowns bugging would-be buyers of houses and condos this summer: Will Congress let the $8,000 nonrepayable tax credit for first-time purchasers expire as scheduled about three months from now? Or will the credit get a second life and be extended for six to 12 months, taking pressure off buyers, real estate agents and settlement companies? That's an especially urgent matter if you're a buyer just starting to shop and you see entry-level prices bottoming out or rebounding.

Maryland start-up biotechnology companies began lining up Friday morning for a chance to apply for the state's generous, but limited, tax credit for luring investors to the industry - five days before the program can officially accept applications. As of 4:30 p.m., representatives from 11 companies had written their names on a whiteboard in a conference room at the University of Maryland's BioPark in Baltimore. The state will officially accept applications July 1 for the Biotechnology Investment Incentive Tax Credit - which allows for a 50 percent tax break, up to $250,000, per investor in a company.

You might be able to use the $8,000 first-time homebuyer credit to buy your house, instead of having to purchase the house first and then claim the credit on your tax return. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says that the tax credit can be applied to cover purchase costs, including in certain cases the down payment, if you are taking out a mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Administration. This doesn't apply to other types of mortgages. "It is a very attractive offering, and basically it addresses one of the hurdles that keeps more people from buying a home - getting help with the down payment or paying closing costs," says Bob Meighan, a vice president with TurboTax.

A property tax credit meant to lure new residents to Baltimore and spur development in impoverished neighborhoods instead rewards current city dwellers who inhabit booming parts of the city, according to a report issued by the city's Finance Department. In the past nine months, 75 percent of the applications for the program, called the Newly Constructed Dwelling Tax Credit, came from 10 neighborhoods, according to the finance data. Forty percent of the credits went to households earning more than $100,000 a year.

Hollywood producers may say they like a location's weather, or wax poetic about the great scenery or architecture, or love the people they hire as extras. But whether they decide to film in your state? That's largely a function of the bottom line. Despite the downturn in the economy and the resulting state budget crisis (and perhaps even because of it), California has started offering 20 percent tax rebates for big movies shot there and 25 percent for TV shows. That's a relatively modest deal - Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico and New York are among the states either offering or contemplating giving even more.

Two-thirds of Americans think the environment is getting worse, but most haven't made major changes to help the air, soil and water, according to recent Gallup polls. If you're one of the procrastinators, your number of excuses just got smaller. Thanks to the recently passed federal stimulus bill, Maryland energy grants and a maturation of the alternative energy industry, the incentives to go green in big ways and small are higher than they've ever been. Wind-generated electricity is the cheapest in history.

After house-hunting for several months, attending pre-purchase counseling seminars and researching mortgage options, Antoinette Guy-Wharton is ready to buy. The single mother and insurance consultant has found a bank-owned home in Randallstown. As a first-time buyer who is income eligible, Guy-Wharton qualifies for a recently enacted $8,000 federal tax credit. Because she is purchasing a foreclosed home, she can also apply for funds through the Neighborhood Conservation Initiative, which helps communities attract buyers to areas with high foreclosure rates.