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Show BUSINESS KDITOR: ANNE CiOLDEN THE DAILY HERALD (www.HariiTheHerald.com) 2 C3 . MAY 6, 2000 SATURDAY, MUTUAL INTEREST Steve Tolley There, are way s to lower your -next tax bill fc I - iftSSsBw ' ' 1IHII'I"'I, rmmm J - ' " Tax Freedom Day Marks Average American's First Tax-fre- e Dollar. . The Tax Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., has identified May 3 as 2000's Tax Freedom Day. This date marks the day when the average American will earn his ot dollar of her first totally the year. The. first 1 2.i days of wages go toward paying federal, state and local taxes. Tax Freedom Day has advanced from April 20 to May 3 in just eight years, evidence of Americans' tax burden. Despite this trend, you may be able to celebrate our person Tax Freedom Day earlier by investing in investments. or When it comes to investments, it's important to remember that what you see is not what you get. At first glance, appear to yield less than their taxable counterparts. investments are However, free from federal taxes and sometimes state and local taxes, as well. As a result, you get to keep more of what you earn. This can make a huge difference in your after-tareturn. For example, if you're in. the 28 percent tax bracket, a taxable investment would have to earn 7.64 percent to match the after-tainvestment yield of a yielding 5.5 percent. Some of the most common investments available today include municipal bonds, unit mutual funds and investment trusts. BKN MARGOTThe Assnciaird tax-fre- e . iw4f MOT ever-growin- g By MARY ANN tax-fre- e LICKTEIG The airport is asking United and United Express, the carriers with the most frequent service on busy West Coast routes, to use bigger planes and to make fewer trips. Associated Press Writer d tax-fre- e SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Airlines share responsi- bility for delays at San Airport and they should help alleviate them by tax-fre- e shuttle consolidating flights, airport officials J said. The airport is asking United tax-fre- e tax-fre- e tax-fre- e . Municipal Bonds e . mutual Funds mutual funds typically bonds. invest in 30 to 100 Mutual funds are managed by professionals who select the bonds and monitor their safety. Two attractive features of mutual funds are that they typically require an initial investment similar to investing, in a single bond, yet they diversify your money across a number of bonds. This lowers risk. However, unlike bonds, the interest on mutual funds fluctuates. tax-fre- e Unit Investment Trusts Unit investment trusts also spread your investment dollars among a number of bonds, usually 2 to 20, They offer the fixed interest of a municipal bond and the diversification of a mutual fund. Unit trusts, however, usually yield less than individual bonds of comparable maturities, and if bonds are called, principal may be returned early. 1 Tax-deferr- ed United Investments investments allow you to delay paying taxes on your investment. Often, taxes are deferred until you're retired and in. a lower income bracket: Therefore, "you reduce your tax bill. Two of the more popular investments are individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and annuities. d tax-deferr- Individual Retirement Accounts IRAs are more attractive than ever, thanks to the creation of the Roth and Education IRAs. In addi-- , tion to saving for retirement, IRAs can be used to save for a first home or fund a college education. Whether your contributions are may depend on the See TOLLEY, C6 -d- about cancellations and delays and to increase turnaround time on loops to Ix)s Angeles so that a single delay doesn't have a domino effect and cause delays for the rest of the timely information Director John Martin plans to ask the Federal Aviation Administration for the right to order them i to do so, Jf granted, San Francisco would be the first airport to change the flights offered by airlines, airport spokesman Ron officials on a released study, which they say backs up their plan. "The bottom line is offi- cus- tomer service," Wilson said, adding that the airport rivals New Jersey's International Newark Airport for the nation's cials say that would be illegal, misguided and "a very bad idea," The real solution to San Francisco's delays, airline and airport officials agree, is reconfiguring the old runways, which are too ' close together for flights to most flight delays. Small planes are the ones tying up runways, Wilson said. Turboprops carrying 30 people or fewer account for 18 percent of the airport's 1,250 daily flights but just 3 land simultaneously dur- ing bad weather. But that will take at least seven years.. Assixiated Press Writer 30-ye- slow May 1. Wall Street investors, who nor- the economy. The Fed has raised interest rates five times since last June, in increments. A small quarter-poin- t economists of number pregrowing t dict a more aggressive move when the Fed next meets half-poin- interest rates when they see strong economic reports, shrugged off the new jobless figure. In late-aftermxm trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 120 points, t he Nasdaq better than 63. -, April's job growth of 340,000 followed an even bigger 458,000 increase in workers in March, figures that analysts said are too strong for the Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, increasingly worried that a dwindling pool of available workers will spark rising wage pressures. "All is right for workers, but all is not right for Alan Greenspan," said Paul Kasriel, chief economist with Northern Trust Co. Wells Fargo economist Sung Won Sohn is among those predictt rate increase in ing a May. "The logic is that this increment gradualism has not worked. The economy and the stock market have put on a Teflon coating," he said. Sohn believes the Fed might even opt for a increase. Strong job creation in April, aided by a big burst of hiring for the 2000 Census, helped pull the unemployment rate down from stronger-than-expecte- the turboprops include Fresno, Eureka, Monterey by and lines. "The only organization that can give that is the U.S. Congress." FAA spokesman Paul Turk said he couldn't say if the FAA has the authority. "But we are preparing a response that will go to SFO very shortly." The Regional Airline Association, which represents smaller commuter carriers, also criticizes the plan. "We don't feel that this d . half-poin- three-quarter-poi- low 30-ye- ar mally worry about inflation and The superWASHINGTON charged U.S. economy pushed the unemployment rate to a low of 3.9 percent last month. Blacks and Hispanics-- recorded their lowest jobless rates in history. While economists worried that the Federal Reserve will be forced to move more aggressively to slow things down and keep inflation at bay,, the Clinton administration pointed to Friday's unemployment report as further evidence of the economy's remarkable strength. "Most Americans have never lived in a peacetime economy with unemployment as low as it is today," President Clinton told reporters at the White House. "This is a happy day for the people of the United States." Good news for workers, and for politicians hoping voters will give them credit, the employment report was troubling to economists who feared it underscores that the Fed still has a lot of work to do to Transport Association, the trade group representing the nation's major air- aofe Sacramento. Los Angeles is the only affected city served by 737s narrow body, single-aislplanes that carry about. 130 passengers. "We think the plan is very, very misguided." e United spokesman -i- Jobless rate hits By JEANNINE AVERSA hit e '. day Airport Thursday Wilson said. Airline industry addition, the airport wants airlines to give more accurate and cus-tome- gger-plan- es tax-fre- e Tax-fre- and Express, the carriers with the. most frequent service on busy West Coast rou tes, to use bi and to make fewer trips. If they don't, Airport x Tax-fre- e - Matthew Triaca said. The percent of its passengers, airline has taken a numhe said. ber of steps to' help" the Frequent bad weather airport reduce delays, conditions exacerbate the including decreasing the problem. number of flights in and According to the study, out of San Francisco by 12 for-aelays-typical Jy average, sn percent since 1998, Triaca an hour or more when airport," spokeswoman and demand doesn't said, coastal fog or rain forces Deborah McElroy said. serv-- . larger-planfor exist of two the airport to close "Their proposal could disits four runways. This enfranchise many small ice to Fresno, Eureka, an" it happens a quarter of the communities who depend Monterey ' Sacramento. time in a typical year, the on regional airlines for United Express doesn't their access to San study said. Planes are forced to fly Francisco" and the rest of even have the bigger single-file- , L planesthe airport is sugcutting arrivals the nation's airports. in half, from 60 to 30 per customers Business gesting it use, said Steven ' hour, Wilson said. "We are want frequent flights, said Hart, spokesman for Sky not serving our customers.' McElroy, who worries that West Airlines, which operThe airlines are not servservice to some cities ates United Express. could end altogether if airing our customers adeFuscus of the Air Association lines decide it's not ecoquately," he said. Transport Airport officials , have, nomical to send big planes expects the FAA to reject not given airlines a deadthere. the airport's plan'. line, but they said they "It's against the Airline Airport officials want will be ready to go to the airlines to replace some Deregulation Act of 1978 FAA in July. turboprop and 737 service and it is a very bad idea "They can go to the with larger planes. They for any type of governFAA and ask for approval are targeting regional air- ment authority or an airbut there's no way for the ports that offer one or port authority to get FAA to give it because it more round trips to San involved in the free marviolates federal law," said Francisco per hour by a ket, and t hat's - exactly A. David Fuscus, single carrier. what's happening here." Air for the Affected cities served he said. spokesman The airport wants airlines to consolidate their flights only until the. runway project is finished. In -- x - International Francisco 'tax-free- s Municipal bonds are issued by. villages, cities, counties, states and special districts to finance projects that benefit the public, such as schools, roads, water or sewer systems, courthouses and hospitals. For most investors, the interest earned on municipal bonds' is free from federal taxes. It may be free from state and local taxes, as well. Carefully evaluate the credit rating of the bond before investing any money. All bonds are not equal in quality. Pu- Less of these: Passenger jets line up for takeoff at San Francisco International Airport. Airport officials want to order airlines to use bigger planes to reduce the number of flights. March's rate of 4.1 percent, a bigger drop than many analysts were forecasting. The last time the nation's jobless rate stood at 3.9 percent was in January 1970, during the Vietnam War. Clinton said the unemplov ment rate has not been this low in peacetime since 1957. The .unemployment rate for blacks fell to an monthly low of 7.2 percent in April from the previous low of 7.3 percent in March. The rate for Hispanics dropped to a record low 5.4 percent surpassing, compared with the previous 5.6 percent mark set in January. Meanwhile, average hourly earnings, a key gauge of inflation pressure, grew by 0.4 percent to $13.64 in April. That was twice as fast as many analysts anticipated. For the year ending April 30, wages rose 3.8 percent, the biggest leap since July. In March, average hourly earnings went up 0.3 percent. "Heightened wage pressures now look like the rule rather than the exception," First Union economist Mark Vitner said. While strong job and wage growth is good for workers, economists and members of the Fed worry that the combination might worsen inflation. all-tim- e year-over-ye- Utah's rate down to 2.7 percent SALT LAKE Utah's CITY (AP) -- unemployment rate of a point to dropped 2.7 percent for April, the state Workforce. of Department Services reported Friday. 'This is Utah's lowest monthly unemployment rate in nearly 50 years," said Ken Jensen, chief economist for the department. About 30,200 Utah residents were unemployed last month. The rate for April 2000. was a significant drop from the 4.0 unemployment rate for the same month one year earlier. Utah is following a national trend. Last month's U.S. unemlow ployment rate hit a at 3.9 percent. One year ago in April, the national unemployment rate was 4.3 percent. State officials said in the past year, Utah employers have cre: ated 25.600 new nonfarm jobs. Nongovernment employers generated 21,200 jobs, a 2.5 percent growth rate. Mild winter weather through March allowed the construction industry to complete projects ahead of schedule. one-tent- h 30-ye- |
