Dear Family,

Let's start the day with good news. President Bush flatly refused to allow payroll taxes to be raised to pay for Social Security.

And there's more good news, mortgage rates have dropped again. In fact, they're even lower than they were at this time last year. And speaking about dropping something - drop these solicitations in the trash. I've been seeing lots of Tax e-mails coming through as spam. Often, they are from HelpOnTaxes or having something urgent about taxes in the subject line. The message promises to get you out of tax trouble. Please, please, no matter how rough things are, avoid responding to such garbage. You don't know who these people are (nor do I). The last thing you want to do is to give them enough information about yourself to engage in identity theft.

If they were from coming from an ethical tax firm, you'd see contact information, firm name and other, honest-to-goodness identifying information. Avoid them. If you need help - go see a real tax professional - someone you know, or someone that is recommended.

And when was the last time you've seen a new Barbra Streisand film? Well, believe it or not, this month, she's finally back - in Meet the Fokkers!

OK, it's definitely not the most original script - whitebread blonde girl wants to wed dark ethnic boy with quirky parents. (Think Dharma & Greg and Bridget Loves Bernie ) But, the cast is amazing, with Robert DeNiro, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, and Barbra. The producers must have been drooling when these people agreed to join the project. Who cares about the story! I'll bet this will be one fun film!

Oh more fun. I'm working on an article for CBS.MarketWatch, for next week that you're going to love. It's going to be fun, campy, and very controversial. Stay tuned.

But, for now...it's holiday time. Enjoy!

And don't go out and buy presents JUST to give someone something. If you can't find something wonderful - just give them your love instead. They don't need another thing to dust or clean...a good book, or film, now... perhaps that's another matter.

Best wishes,
Eva Rosenberg, EA
Your TaxMama is watching...out for you.. P.S. Remember, TaxMama's Secrets is now
available on CD.

P.S.S. Drop by TaxMama's Shopping pages

P.P.S. TaxMama is starting to schedule speaking/teaching engagements for next year.

P.P.S.S. If you're using spam blocker software, please add taxmama.com to your approved list. I don't have time to keep responding to each request for authentication. There are just too many, anymore.