Introduction

You're thinking, "How can anyone other than a CPA, IRS worker or tax attorney find adventure in a topic such as tax planning?" Well, in this book segment, Year-Round Tax Strategies: 33 Tax-Saving Tips for Keeping More Money in Your Pockets, I will provide some motivation and suggestions on how to integrate tax strategies into your daily life to help you keep more money in your pockets.

Need some motivation?
Imagine a sunny, mild day. Line up $1,000 worth of $5 bills side by side on asphalt (this would be 200 bills), then strike a match on one end and watch them burn. Not a good use of money, right? Well, if you don't plan your tax bill, you might be doing just this, because you will not see these $5 bills again if you send them to Uncle Sam.
I'm not advocating that you either burn money or become so versed in IRS code jargon that you sound like an IRS auditor or a tax attorney. I challenge you to pay closer attention to opportunities that occur almost daily that have tax implications. Understanding and implementing tax strategies will help you make decisions that create a positive versus a negative outcome on your overall tax bill.

Don't wait until May 2002 for tax freedom.
According to Bill Ahern of the Tax Foundation, last year's Tax Freedom Day was the latest ever recorded-May 3, 2001. Implement some of the tax tips I discuss in this book, and you can keep more of your money earlier this year. By the way, Tax Freedom Day is the day Americans will have earned enough money to pay the year's federal, state, and local taxes and pocket a day's pay for themselves.

Why tax laws?
Pure and simple, tax laws are created not only to raise basic funds to support our government but also to appease constituents, to offer as enticements when negotiating other laws Congress seeks to pass, to raise funds for our government coffers, to raise political contributions, and other reasons. There is an art, or game, if you will, to planning the strategies that will help your individual tax situation, but you must know the tax rules and understand why they are in place.

What will we accomplish?
This book will introduce the two questions to ask yourself as you conduct your daily life and thirty-three tips that will save at least $1,000 at tax time, depending on your income level.