Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash
Here’s a change-up for everyone… people are standing in lines to pay their taxes! Wait, what? The Wall Street Journal reported that taxpayers who live in counties where property values have risen (Fairfax County, VA; Montgomery County, MD; Norfolk County, MA to name a few) are lining up to prepay their property taxes and stay ahead of the new tax law that is set to kick in at the start of the new year.
Before the Christmas Holiday, President Trump signed the new tax reform bill turning it into a law effective Jan 1st (Thank You Schoolhouse Rock!). As you all know the new law caps the amount of state and local taxes that homeowners can deduct from their tax bill at $10,000… meaning those who normally exceed that number could lessen the blow by paying more in 2017 before the cap is legally in place.
Prepaying may not be the best choice for all homeowners, but it could be a viable option for some. Contact your local tax authorities for more information or check out one of the many “tax-plan” calculators that are available for free on the web.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, PA I never really knew if we were considered an “East Coast” or “Midwest” city and according to a lot of people… nobody really knows. What I do know is that in a region with deep rooted German and Polish heritage there will be a feast of pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day to ensure that good luck is bestowed on my family and friends in 2018.
Where did this tradition come from you ask? Well, it’s because a pig roots forward… um what? Yea. That’s the only thing I can find about the tradition and even still I don’t really know what it means. The truth is that from a farming perspective it just made sense. A pig roast or loin doesn’t store as well in the winter as the ham, so it just made sense to eat it sooner and because cabbage is a late fall crop, it only makes sense to ferment some (sauerkraut) to store it for later consumption (fermentation process takes about 8-10 weeks) thus the tradition was created and per usual we slapped a folklore to it.
The opinions expressed in this post are the sole view of the writer and do not reflect the opinion of Princeton Mortgage Corporation.