A retiree I wrote about in Sunday’s paper, who tipped me off about higher federal taxes in 2011 on pensions, told me this morning that he received a decidedly disappointing response from Rep. Sandy Levin after he questioned the increase.
Joe Abbate, a Chrysler retiree from Sterling Heights, was searching for answers after his federal tax withholdings jumped $47 a month in March, a 27 percent increase. Levin eventually responded with an e-mail that offered less of an explanation than a deflection. The higher tax, the congressman stressed, was not the result of a House vote or a statutory change. Under certain circumstances, he wrote, the IRS changes its tax tables so that the withholdings accurately predict what a taxpayer will owe at the end of the year.
“What a joke,” was Abbate’s response.
Just as I have found, Abbate has learned that most people — everyone from retirees to accountants — are unaware of the increase. Or that it was caused by a shift in the tax tables due the expiration of President Obama’s 2009-10 Making Work Pay tax credit.
“I’ve been blessed by the Good Lord, but a lot of people will have a problem paying this,” Abbate said, adding that he would be less “irked” by the additional taxes if he knew the money would finance schools or police or firefighters.
You can read the Sunday Macomb Daily story explaining the tax change here. One caution, the story has since been corrected so that it accurately reflect’s Abbate’s tax hike. The above numbers are correct, not those in the original story.
