• Lifestyle
    NextShark

    Woman Discovers Her Son's Bride is Her Long Lost Daughter

    A woman in eastern China had the shock of her life when she found out that her son was marrying her long-lost daughter. The reunion occurred right at the would-be spouses' wedding in Suzhou, Jiangsu province on March 31, according to Sohu News. The shocking discovery was made after the woman noticed a birthmark on the bride's hand, which looked strikingly similar to that of her long-lost child.

    Thanks for your feedback!
  • Thanks for your feedback!
  • Thanks for your feedback!
  • Business
    National Review

    Biden Plan Will Raise Taxes on the Middle Class

    President Biden’s promise to raise taxes only on the richest Americans cannot possibly be upheld if he is successful with the centerpiece of his tax plan. That, of course, is to repeal the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) passed during the Trump administration. The primary effect of the TCJA was to reduce taxes for Americans in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution. Put another way, the top 20 percent of earners were the only ones who did not get a tax cut under the TCJA. Americans earning between about $40,000 and $80,000 per year benefited most from the TCJA, and millions of others at the lowest income levels were taken off the tax rolls altogether. President Biden, along with House and Senate Democrats, have pledged to reverse all that. For example, the president vows to eliminate the so-called “stepped-up basis” rule for inherited property. The president refers to this as a “loophole” that allows the rich to game the system. It is no loophole. In fact, it is a specific rule of law under Internal Revenue Code §1014. This law was not a part of the TCJA. It has been on the books since 1954 but is only now under attack by Democrats looking for ways to take more of your money. Here’s how it works. Suppose your parents own a home worth $200,000. They purchased the home decades ago for, say, $50,000. If they gift the home to you prior to their passing, your basis in the home is the same as theirs: $50,000. That means if you sell the home for its current value of $200,000, you must pay capital gains tax on the profit of $150,000 — the difference between basis and sale price. By contrast, if you inherit the home after their death, your basis is equal to the fair market value of the property as of the date of death — in this example, $200,000. See: Code §1014(a)(1). Now if you sell the property for $200,000, there is no capital-gains tax because there’s no gain (sale price minus basis equals gain). This is what we refer to as “stepped-up basis.” And the rule absolutely does not apply only to “rich people.” The operation of Code §1014 is not controlled by one’s annual income, the value of the inherited asset, or the total value of one’s estate. It applies across the board. Every American taxpayer enjoys the benefit of stepped-up basis on inherited property. If Code §1014 were repealed in its entirety, all inherited property would be taxed on sale at the capital-gains rate. In general, the gain would be calculated on the difference between the sale price and the price at which the deceased person paid for it (plus any capital improvements that add to the cost basis). To go back to your parents’ home, if they paid $50,000 for it, and you sold it for $200,000 after their death, that $150,000 would be subject to tax. And that example might not be as extreme as it seems. It’s not unlikely that your parents would have held on to their last home for many years. One consolation, however, is that the White House appears to be contemplating exempting the first $1 million in unrealized gains from these new rules, a limit which, if left unchanged, will likely be eroded by inflation over the years, if not outright reduced or eliminated. Moreover, you can expect the tax bill to be calculated at a much higher rate than those currently in effect. According to Gallup, as of 2017, 82 percent of Americans over age 65 own their own homes. That is the highest rate of homeownership for any age group. When these people die, their property passes to their heirs. If President Biden and the Democrats have their way, the coming years will see an increased transfer of wealth — not from parents to children (as it should be) — but from parents to the federal government. For now, there may be a way for those affected by these proposed changes to reduce the impact of the law, by (to oversimplify) selling a primary residence eligible for capital-gains-tax relief on its sale, but then how many elderly people are going to want to go through the disruption of selling their homes at a late stage in their lives? And of course, to the extent that there are ways to reduce the impact of the step-up rules, we cannot be sure that they will endure, considering how desperate the federal government will be for money in light of the multi-trillion-dollar spending spree it’s been on for the past year. Meanwhile, keep an eye on the estate tax, too. In 2021, estates valued under $11.7 million are not subject to the estate tax. But if President Biden has his way, that threshold will be cut to $3.5 million, and the rate of tax increased to 45 percent (from 40 percent). Considering that as recently as 2001 the threshold was just $675,000, it’s not difficult to foresee this tax hitting middle-income Americans. So much for tax hikes on “only the rich.” Author’s Note: Any tax strategy depends upon the totality of your own circumstances. Before engaging in any tax strategy, you should first consult competent advisors to whom you make full disclosure of all the relevant facts and circumstances of your case.

    Thanks for your feedback!
  • World
    The Week

    Newly disclosed CIA memo reveals U.S. concealed high-ranking Nazi's role in Holocaust so he could serve as a Cold War asset

    In the years following World War II, the United States and West Germany jointly worked to conceal a high-ranking Nazi official's role in deporting tens of thousands of Jews, newly disclosed intelligence records obtained by German public broadcaster ARD reveal, per The New York Times. Franz Josef Huber led a large section of the Gestapo — Adolf Hitler's secret police — that stretched across Austria, and his forces worked closely with Adolf Eichmann on the coordination of the deportation of Jews to concentration and extermination camps. Eichmann, famously, was tried and executed in Israel in 1962 for his role in the Holocaust, but Huber dodged that fate, even though he was arrested by American forces in 1945. He was released in 1948 and continued to live out his days in Munich, seemingly avoiding responsibility altogether because he was seen as a potential Cold War asset. The CIA, for example, believed he could help recruit agents in the Soviet bloc. As one memo from 1953 reads, the agency was "by no means unmindful of the dangers involved in playing around with a Gestapo general," but "we also believe, on the basis of the information now in our possession, that Huber might be profitably used by this organization." The West German intelligence service, the BND, gave him a cover story, and it took 20 years before the agency decided "they could no longer tolerate the connection," the Times writes. While Huber's story may stand out because of his significant standing within the Third Reich, Prof. Shlomo Shpiro of Israel's Bar-Ilan University explained that "Western intelligence services struggled to recruit reliable anti-communist contacts," which meant they frequently ignored the backgrounds of potential assets. "Many former Nazis took advantage of the new communist threat to secure for themselves both immunity from war crimes prosecution and hefty salaries from U.S. and West German intelligence agencies," he said. Read more at The New York Times. More stories from theweek.comGallup: Democrats now outnumber Republicans by 9 percentage points, thanks to independents5 scathingly funny cartoons about MLB vs. the GOPPiers Morgan claims 'several' royals have thanked him after he repeatedly said he doesn't believe Meghan Markle

    Thanks for your feedback!
  • U.S.
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram

    Two children killed in Roanoke backhoe accident studied at private Fort Worth school

    The driver of the backhoe, Vijender Chauhan, 40, of Crowley, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of manslaughter, according to the Texas Highway Patrol.

    Thanks for your feedback!
  • Lifestyle
    Yahoo Entertainment

    CNN legal analyst Midwin Charles dead at 47

    Midwin Charles, a legal analyst for CNN and MSNBC and defense attorney, died Tuesday, her family announced. She was 47. The cause of death was not disclosed.

    Thanks for your feedback!