Author: Elizabeth Blessing
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Homeowners who itemize can deduct mortgage insurance premiums again for 2026 under Trump’s tax law, after the break had lapsed
Homeowners who pay mortgage insurance and itemize their deductions can write those premiums off again for tax year 2026. The break disappeared for premiums paid after 2021 and could not be claimed on 2025 returns. IRS Publication 505 for 2026 now says the election is permanent, a change that arrives through the 2025 tax law…
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The IRS wrongly billed 28,929 taxpayers who had already paid, a watchdog found
Households that paid a tax bill when they filed in mid-April 2025 were not supposed to hear from the IRS again about that balance. For 28,929 taxpayers, a notice arrived anyway, saying the payment had not been received. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the agency’s independent watchdog, documented the mistake in a report…
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Indiana will check Medicaid members’ work hours every three months under Trump’s 2025 law, twice as often as Illinois
Indiana will ask Medicaid members to prove their work hours four times a year, and Illinois will ask twice. Beginning January 1, 2027, the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) checks hours every three months, while Illinois verifies every six. Both states are applying the work rule in the 2025 federal law that President Donald Trump signed,…
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Trump’s final fuel-economy rule sets a 34.9 mpg target and, the Transportation Department says, cuts $1,300 from a new car’s price
The Transportation Department finalized a new federal fuel-economy rule on September 28 that sets a fleet-average target of 34.9 miles per gallon by model year 2031. The department says the change will reduce the average cost of a new vehicle by $1,300, an estimate that comes from the department itself. President Donald Trump’s administration calls…
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Children of disabled workers get an average $529.79 a month from Social Security, far less than retirees’ children collect
Some 893,000 children of disabled workers received Social Security benefits in August 2026, and the average payment was $529.79 a month. Children on retired workers’ records averaged $961.26, so the disability-side check ran $431.47 lower. The Social Security Administration’s monthly statistical snapshot also shows that spouses on disabled workers’ records fared worse than the children…
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One dollar over $218,000 can cost a married Medicare couple about $2,297 a year in added premiums
A married couple whose joint income lands at $218,001 instead of $218,000 does not pay a little more on that extra dollar. The Social Security Administration’s 2026 tables add $81.20 a month to each spouse’s Part B premium and $14.50 to Part D once joint modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) passes $218,000. For two spouses…
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Social Security retirement checks would be cut 26% when the fund runs dry in 2032, an analysis of new CBO projections finds
Social Security’s retirement trust fund would run out of money in fiscal 2032, and automatic law would then trim every retired-worker check by about a quarter, according to an analysis of the Congressional Budget Office’s new projections by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. The figures are projections, not a scheduled cut, and Congress…
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Florida food stamps can no longer buy Oreos, Chips Ahoy or Twinkies, but Pop-Tarts and granola bars still qualify
Two snack boxes can share a shelf in a Florida supermarket and land on opposite sides of a SNAP rule. Under the state’s Healthy SNAP program, Oreos, Chips Ahoy! and Twinkies are barred from food stamp purchases, while Pop-Tarts and granola bars stay eligible. The line follows a definition the Florida Department of Children and…
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Maryland’s old magnetic-stripe food stamp cards stop working Sept. 30, and households must activate the new chip card to keep buying food
A Maryland household that still swipes the old magnetic-stripe EBT card at the register faces a hard stop on Wednesday. The state’s Department of Human Services says magnetic-stripe cards will stop working on September 30, 2026, and only an activated chip-and-tap card keeps food benefits usable after that. What Maryland DHS says happens at the…
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Thirty-five states have passed crypto ATM laws since 2023, including 18 this year, AARP’s tracker shows
Thirty-five states have enacted some form of crypto ATM regulation since 2023, and 18 of those laws passed this year alone, according to a tracker AARP updated Sept. 14. The wave follows growing recognition among state lawmakers that cryptocurrency kiosks, machines that convert cash into digital currency, have become a common final step in scams…