TAXES: Bad news gonna get worse

Good news from the government for all you home owners who are upside down on your mortgage, lost your job, are struggling to pay your bills or any combination of the preceding. There are going to be some taxes to pay for all of this mismanagement on your part.

First we have the "Health Care Reform" tax hidden in the bill that recently passed. It gives us a 3.8 percent "health care" tax on home sales. Nancy Pelosi also wants a 1 percent transaction tax on ANY financial transaction as well, to create jobs, bring down the deficit, etc. In my math that means a 4.8 percent tax on the sale of your home.

Here is the tricky part. If your home value is half of what you paid, and you sell the house for less than the balance owed, you can be forced to pay the difference OR be charged an income tax for the write down. Add the 4.8 percent tax to either of these scenarios and that is your total debt for selling your home. Then, since you are already penniless, homeless and possibly jobless, the IRS can put you in jail for not paying taxes on money you never got, with money you are not earning.

One last slap, now that you are destitute: They will tax you for not having health care insurance. At least the taxpayers will pay for your incarceration... For now.

JACKIE MURRAY

Plummer