Uncle Sam

Near the peak of the housing frenzy four years ago, 75 percent of homes sold in the Baltimore metro area went to buyers with conventional mortgages - loans not insured by government agencies. Now such deals are much fewer and farther between. Thirty-five percent of Baltimore-area buyers got conventional loans last month, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. The share of buyers turning to Uncle Sam - particularly for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages - is way up in these post-bubble, post-subprime times.

If you're underpaid and overburdened by federal student loans, you're in for some relief. A new loan repayment plan kicks in next month that can significantly reduce your monthly payment - in some cases drop it to zero - and will forgive any lingering debt after 25 years. "People need this more than ever. It's making its debut at the right time," says Edie Irons, a spokeswoman with the Project on Student Debt. The new Income Based Repayment Plan is just one of the borrower-friendly provisions taking effect next month in the federal loan program.

This is a tough job market and a rough economy. No one knows that better than Kim and Millicent Elsmo. The Crownsville couple lost their jobs last year. Kim Elsmo, 60, worked in shipping and receiving. His wife, Millicent, was a corporate real estate manager whose job was outsourced to another company. Like others in their situation, the couple spent the little savings they had in their 401(k)s and borrowed from family. And Millicent, 57, tapped her Individual Retirement Account early this year to pay off debt and meet living expenses, including some big premiums to maintain coverage under her former employer's insurance plan.

The Bel Air Independence Day Committee will celebrate Independence Day on Friday with its annual parade and activities. This year's theme is "A Salute to Those Who Serve Our Country." Activities start with a flag-raising ceremony at 6:45 a.m. at Bel Air High School, featuring bugler Robert Hudson. A blueberry-pancake and sausage breakfast will be held from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children younger than 10. A horseshoe-pitching contest in Rockfield Ballpark.

Got your economic stimulus payment from the government yet? Regardless of your opinion of the economy and its direction, using the $300 to $600 windfall, plus any income tax refund, for travel will definitely help you to have a good time. Here are some untaxing offers to consider: HKH Hotels in New York -- the Casablanca Hotel, the Library Hotel, Hotel Elysie and Hotel Giraffe -- is discounting prices $10-$50 through Labor Day. Regular summer rates at these boutique hotels start at $265-$289.

The story starts with a kid who needs a job. Sick of working at the bowling alley, Mike Drisgill was scanning Craigslist for employment. Liberty Tax Service, on York Road in Towson, needed a waver - you know, stand on the street corner and flail your arms to get the attention of passing motorists. Drisgill, 17, did that for a few weeks, in costume as the Statue of Liberty, but he sensed within the mundane job the possibility of something greater. So he got the tax store to hire his friend Clark Runciman, 16, who on his first day of work brought along a boom box. There would be no more waving for these two. Instead, Drisgill and Runciman - juniors at Calvert Hall College High School and members of the school's track team - pumped up the hip-hop and dance tunes and, dressed as the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam, put on a dance show the likes of which York Road commuters have never seen.

Unaccountable and deadly, private security guards in Iraq have done so much damage to the American mission there with their shoot-early-and-often tactics that finally even the State Department, which seems to pride itself on its ability to look the other way, has realized that something has to be done to rein them in. New oversight measures approved Tuesday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are fine as far as they go - but they don't go far enough....

Tax season is officially over. But your desk or kitchen table might be buried under piles of statements and receipts. Though it would be nice to dump the whole lot in the trash, don't be too eager. You need to hang on to some of those documents in case Uncle Sam decides to audit your return. The chances of that dreaded event are rising, too. During the past few years, the Internal Revenue Service has stepped up enforcement efforts - and not just for the super-rich. Last year, the IRS examined some 817,000 nonbusiness returns filed by people making less than $100,000, up 53 percent from 534,000 in 2001.

What's done is done. It cannot be undone until tax time next year. So if you aren't liking the way your taxes are turning out for 2006, you can plan ahead so you have a better chance to secure a more palatable outcome for 2007. With the hard lessons of 2006 fresh in your mind, you may spot some common tax-saving measures that might make your return less alarming at this time next year. Consider these: Adjust your withholding. Nothing hurts worse than having to dig into your pocket to come up with cash for Uncle Sam. If you have underpaid your taxes during the year by $1,000 or more, you could be subject to a penalty.

Love that puny paycheck. It may actually be small enough to help you save more. You read that right. I did not say: "It may actually be large enough to help you save more." Perhaps you struggle from month to month to pay the bills. Maybe you have had some calls from bill collectors, or overdraft charges on your checking account. You may promise yourself that you will start saving for your future if you ever get ahead. But the answer may be in front of you, in the tax return that's been beckoning for your attention.