At the height of the recession in 2008, Wal-Mart Stores realized that consumers were “cocooning” — vacationing in their yards, eating more dinners at home, organizing family game nights. So it responded by grouping items in its stores that would turn any den into an at-home movie theater or transform a backyard into a slice of the Catskills. Wal-Mart wasn’t just selling barbecues and board games. It was selling experiences.

But Will It Make You Happy? By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

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From August 20th thru the 22nd, you can get a tax break on many school supplies, backpacks and most children’s clothing and shoes priced at less than a hundred dollars. For a complete list go tohttp://www.txtaxholiday.org, and then shop August 20th thru the 22nd.

If It Causes Stress, Is It Really a Vacation Home?

For many people, owning a vacation home is part of the American dream. But ask yourself some tough questions before you buy.

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The legislation titled “Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act,” was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on March 31, 2010.

Effective immediately, the U.S. Postal Service® cannot accept or transmit any package that it knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, contains nonmailable smokeless tobacco or cigarettes.

Cigarettes, including roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco are considered “nonmailable” matter, unless the shipment falls within certain exceptions. The acceptance and transport of packages containing cigars is not prohibited under the Act.

Read More USPS.com.

“The Texas economy, the world’s 11th-largest, continues to fare better than those of many other states. But Texas felt the effects of the worldwide recession during 2009. Despite the state’s economy contracting in 2009, Texas’ relative economic advantage should continue as the state and U.S. economies turn around and expand again in 2010. The Comptroller’s office estimates that Texas’ gross state product will grow by 2.6 percent during calendar 2010. The U.S. economy should grow at a slower rate of 2.0 percent during the year.”

Read more of Susan Comb’s remarks.

Here’s a link to the article:  An Economy of Grinds.

A study released this year by SpiderLabs, a part of the data-security consulting company Trustwave, found that 38 percent of the credit card hacking cases last year involved the hotel industry. The sector was well ahead of the financial services industry (19 percent), retailing (14.2 percent), and restaurants and bars (13 percent).

Read the full article.

H.R. 5623 would amend Code Sec. 36(h)(2) to provide that if a written binding contract to purchase a principal residence was entered into before May 1, 2010, the credit may be claimed if the purchase is closed before Oct. 1, 2010. Thus, this extension would allow homebuyers who signed a contract no later than April 30th deadline to complete their closing by the end of September.

The three-month extension of the closing date is intended to provide tax relief for those who couldn’t close on time because of backlogs at lenders and federal programs involved in homebuyer loans. In the words of the bill’s supporters, the three-month extension “will give time for all the new mortgages to be processed and not punish those homeowners who have been delayed through no fault of their own.”

The Senate will likely vote on the bill by July 1.

You’ll find a capo in most every guitarist’s gig bag. And there’s a pretty good chance that it will be a Kyser Capo, manufactured in and distributed from the Texas towns of Kaufman and Canton.

Read the full article here:  Fiscal Notes

Per IRS Publication 1771:

If a donor makes a single contribution of $250 or more in the form of unreimbursed expenses, e.g., out-of-pocket transportation expenses incurred in order to perform donated services for an organization, then the donor must obtain a written acknowledgment from the organization containing:

a description of the services provided by the donor

a statement of whether or not the organization provided goods or services in return for the contribution

a description and good faith estimate of the value of goods or services, if any, that an organization provided in return for the contribution

a statement that goods or services, if any, that an organization provided in return for the contribution consisted entirely of intangible religious benefits (described earlier in this publication), if that was the case.

In addition, a donor must maintain adequate records of the unreimbursed expenses. See Publication 526, Charitable Contributions, for a description of records that will substantiate a donor’s contribution deductions.

Example of an unreimbursed expense: A chosen representative to an annual convention of a charitable organization purchases an airline ticket to travel to the convention. The organization does not reimburse the delegate for the $500 ticket. The representative should keep a record of the expenditure, such as a copy of the ticket. The representative should obtain from the organization a description of the services that the representative provided and a statement that the representative received no goods or services from the organization.