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taxgirl® - tax news, tax info and tax policy:

On May 5, the idea of bargain shopping on eBay took a new twist. Item 100237099149 went up for sale for the sum of $75 but the item was actually quite priceless. You see, what appeared to be just another auction item was actually a CD containing the “income-tax returns for 2005 of the entire Italian people.”

That’s not a typo.

And it wasn’t a joke.

A few days earlier, Italian tax authorities had inexplicably put all 38.5 million Italian personal income tax records from 2005 online. The information was eventually deleted but before that happened, the data had already been re-posted to other sites and downloaded.

How could this happen? It may not have been an accident. Some in Italy believe that it was a purposeful act by Romano Prodi’s government, who had prior to losing the general election, been a vocal critic of tax evasion. Interestingly, the timing of the release of the tax records came just after Silvio Berlusconi took office though the release was approved in March.

Even more telling, the deputy finance minister, Vincenzo Visco, said the online publication promoted “transparency and democracy.” This may seem odd, but in Italy, personal income tax returns have been matters of public record and are on display in local town and city halls for a period of one year - unlike here in the US where we consider the information private. However, the Italian data-protection authority believes that making the information available on…

My Money Blog:

The strategy of Buy & Hold Investing has a lot of followers (including me), and one of it’s touted benefits is that it is a simple way to invest. In the case of passive investors, it primarily involves picking and maintaining an asset allocation plan for the next 10-50 years of your life. No need to monitor stock prices or decipher financial statements. However, “simple” and “easy to execute” aren’t the same thing. For example, “spend less than you earn” is simple. “Always save for a rainy day” is simple. But how many people actually do this?

So why don’t I think it will be easy?
The picture above is the cover of the August 1979 issue of BusinessWeek magazine. In case you can’t make it out, the picture is of a stock certificate folded into a paper airplane that has crashed, surrounded by many other crumpled airplanes. (No Photoshop back then…)

The title of the cover story is “The death of equities: How inflation is destroying the stock market.” I haven’t been able to find the full text of the article noted, but I did find some snippets at TheFiendBear. He notes that the article “was published at a time when the Dow was languishing at 875 and had been trading in a see-saw fashion ever since topping out 6 1/2 years earlier in January of 1973. Inflation was a persistent nag on the economy and the Federal Reserve and US fiscal policies were held in low regard.“

Sound familiar?…

make it! Finance and Investment Blog:

In Australia, approximately 50% of all home loans are now written through mortgage brokers. Their rise since the early part of this decade has been nothing short of staggering. In the United States, almost 70% of all home loans are written by mortgage intermediaries (i.e. brokers), and it appears they are set to become just as entrenched here in Australia - we are not far behind!

I have major doubts surrounding the mortgage broking industry. Their mission statements go something along the lines of “we’re here to find the right loan for you at the best possible rate”. It is a clear contradiction that those who are remunerated by the lenders are going to offer you the best deals they have available, for a number of reasons:

Commissions vary widely. They generally sit in the 0.5 to 0.8% range at the time of loan settlement (i.e. the up-front commission). Trailing commissions, which are paid annually as a percentage of the outstanding loan balance, usually hover around the 0.3% mark but vary somewhat. There is obviously a financial incentive for the broker to sell you the loan which pays the highest commission, independent of whether it is actually suitable for you, or necessarily the best deal.

The “panel of lenders” a broker has available to them always omits lenders which do not pay broker commissions. These are often the source of the best deals, as they do not have to factor broker commissions into their overall interest rates…

WalletPop:

Filed under: Debt, Real Estate, Mortgage Confidential

Mortgage expert David Reed invites Walletpop readers to ask him questions about real estate financing. Leave your questions in the comment section of this post.

Q: I’m either looking at a good opportunity or a potential rip-off, and I’m not sure which it is. Perhaps you could help me sort it out? In January of this year, we attempted to refinance our home to help us pay down some substantial credit card debt. To make a long story short, our house appraised for a lot less than we thought it was worth, so the finance company wouldn’t make the deal. And, as it turned out, that was okay, because we’ve taken a couple of other options, paid our debt down, and are okay, for the moment.

But, suddenly, I’m hearing from another loan officer at the company where we had attempted our refinance. According to the message he left me, he’s been reviewing our file and doesn’t understand why the previous loan officer didn’t offer us some kind of deal that could have been approved. He says he can help us.

I’m smelling set-up, but I could just be reacting to all the negative press about sub-prime mortgages, etc. Is it common for loan officers at a finance company to compete in this fashion?

I’ve not returned the call, yet. What should I do? -James

A: I smell more than a set-up, I smell a rat. Understand that loan officers don’t make any money unless they close…