At the beginning of summer two things happen. School let’s out , and the Department of Labor releases it’s average weekly wage rate for New York State. I know, there are some geeks out there screaming , NO that data is released in March. Yeah, yeah, however
it becomes meaningful to employers, and injured workers typically July 1st, when the New York Workers Compensation Board releases the actual MAXIMUM weekly benefit rate, which for July 2010 thru July
2011 is $ 739.83. The monks at the Comp Board arrive at this number by taking the New York Department of Labor average weekly wage rate for the state which was $1109.75 released in March 2010 , and
applying a factor of 2/3’s , which is how we end up at the MAXIMUM NY WORKERS COMPENSATION BENEFIT RATE of $ 739.83 for July 2010 thru July 2011.
Hopefully you are reading this a a mere satistical curiosity, and not as a number you will depend on to feed your family. The good news for injured workers is the benefit rate has gone up dramatically over the last several years, and is actually pegged to
a real number that should increase every year, rather than having the benefit rate remain static over a period of many years eroding the benefit to working families thru the disease better known as inflation.
At 15 years old Chester Greenwood went ice skating on a pond near his home in Farmington Maine. It was so cold his ears nearly froze off. The next afternoon he covered his ears with a woolen scarf that proved to be too itchy and heavy. The next day he bent
some wire into ear shaped loops and asked his grandmother to sew fur around them. It worked perfectly, so much so that he soon received requests from neighbors and friends for a pair of "muffs for the ears". Ultimately he patented his design and founded the
Greenwood Ear Protector Factory in 1877. He became extremely wealthy supplying them to U.S. Soldiers during World War I.
Starting in 2011, landlords will be required to issue 1099’s for all vendors paid more than $600 in fees for that fiscal year. There will be an exemption for those who have a temporary rental. The IRS also has the ability to exempt landlords below a certain
rental income limit. My question is how will they execute this without having all of those tax ID numbers on file to connect the dots for the IRS.
No wonder the economy is not growing. Small business is too burden with tax compliance and tax payments to actually earn money. I can’t decide who is worse ; the politician’s or those of us that elect them to a 90% incumbency rate, then complain about their
policies. Rome is burning as the Roman’s stare in wonderment at the dazzeling auburn sky sipping red wine and eating grapes in their soft linen robes.
