Orel Family

The late, lamented Michigan Schedule 2 Over the weekend, I finally sat down with my documents and TurboTax, and settled in to my 2012 taxes. It's still a bit early for me, as I don't have all of my documents yet, but I wanted to get a sense of where I'd be this year. I finished the Federal taxes, leaving gaps for the unreceived documents. Then I got to Michigan. I completed the 1040 and Schedule 1, and went to fill out Schedule 2. That's my favorite. It's where the "Nonrefundable credits" are. For many years, Michigan has had a "different" tax system. Michigan didn't mimic Federal taxes for deductions, Michigan ignored most of those while giving direct credits for select favored items. The credit was 50% of a donation, up to a modest limit, for gifts to Michigan colleges or universities, Michigan public broadcasting stations, homeless shelters, and a few other select recipients. For 2011, my nonrefundable credits totalled $361. For 20...

In late 2005, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page. Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, currently on a semi-annual basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities that Bruce Springsteen supports, that I have documented in substantial part at http://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html. During the first half of 2012, a total of 157 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $179.12. With rounding and my personal match, the donation+match is $350.00. The donation for this period is, unfortunately, an easy one.  It is going to the American Red Cross ( http://www.redcross.org ) This one is a bit personal.  Sandy hit home, it hit home home...

In late 2005, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page. Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. During Q3 2007, a total of 54 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $50.35. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $100.00. This brings the total raised for charity since the inception of the amazon account up to exactly $1100, to 12 different charities. T The donation for Q3 is to the Melanoma Research Foundation. The Melanoma Research Foundation ( http://www.melanoma.org ) has been actively supported by Danny Federici. The foundation was mentioned on Bruce Springsteen's website when Danny recently took a leave of absence...

In late 2005, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page. Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities documented at my charities page. During Q2 2007, a total of 43 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $32.19. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $65.00. This brings the total raised for charity since the inception of the amazon account up to exactly $1000, to 11 different charities. The donation for Q2 is being made on November 7, 2007. This evening, Bruce Springsteen is appearing at an event titled Stand Up For Heroes: A Benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund . To ...

In late 2005, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page. Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities documented at http://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html. During Q1 2007, a total of 58 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $49.01. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $100.00. While I had considered going to a single charity going forward, recent tragic events made the choice of recipient very easy. I have selected Joan Dancy and PALS Support Group as this quarter's recipient. The donation is made in memory of Terry Magovern. PALS is a grassroots organization that hel...

In November 2005, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page. Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities documented at http://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html. During Q4 2006, a total of 105 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $153.16, the highest of any quarter so far. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $300.00. I have selected 3 organizations as recipients of this quarter's donations: 1) Hungry For Music . Hungry for Music (HFM) began as an annual homless benefit concert on April 15, 1992. HFM's primary mission is to aid in cultivating the self-esteem of disadvanta...