Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman issued a proposal last month to federally regulate tax preparers The IRS wants to set new rules for income tax preparers nationwide in order to help reduce tax fraud and improve compliance.

Is the problem real?  You betcha!  About 60% of all Americans hire a tax preparer to file their returns.  Unfortunately, the IRS says 56% of all returns prepared by a paid tax preparer contain "significant" mistakes!

So far, California and Oregon are the only states that have tax education requirements for its income tax preparers. We expect that other states will, eventually, follow.

Last year, New York passed legislation to require its tax preparers to register with the state, but it does not yet enforce education requirements.

That means that there are more than 600,000 unregulated tax preparers out there as we speak.

Will government regulation help?  Well, the idea sounds good in theory (like many Washington proposals), but here's the problem: as always, when the government is involved, it will take some time before regulations are implemented.

Not too long ago we issued a warning of the possibility of some money market mutual funds shutting down this year due to their inability to make money with low interest rates.

Now we learn that The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just passed a rule that could pose a much bigger threat.  In times of economic duress money market mutual funds will be allowed to prevent redemptions.

Three conditions will have to be met to allow this prohibition:

- The fund’s share price falls below net asset value as The ReserveFund’s net asset value did in 2008.
- The board of directors approve liquidating the fund.
- The fund notifies the SEC of the decision to liquidate and suspend redemptions.

If you think this might not happen, think again.  Another dip in our economy would again put the stock market into a downward spiral, which might be just the key to closing the spigot of liquid money markets.

Tax season is officially upon us!

To kick things off, here is a quick state of the tax union...

Just in time for tax season comes an admission from IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman that even he uses tax prep help because the tax code is too complex!

60% of us are already paying a pro to do our taxes and another 20% feel the need to use tax preparation software to get returns done.

Washington announced that the IRS would start testing and regulating paid tax preparers. But not in time for this year's taxes.

Meanwhile the IRS taxpayer hotline is trying to reach a 71% correct response quota for answering confused taxpayer queries. Just fancy that...71%...if you tried that success ratio on your boss, you wouldn't need to file taxes because you'd be out of work and broke!

What a sorry state!

So while Congress fiddles with a health care bill most Americans don't want, here are the tax changes currently in store for all of us due to Congressional inattention.

For 220 years our presidents have given State of the Union addresses, or as we like to call them, The Once-a-Year Washington Aerobics Olympics.

86 times the left side of the aisle felt compelled to leap to its feet to applaud the President. That's the most exercise most of Congress gets all year, unless you consider Congressional groveling to lobbyists and special interests on hands and knees exercise.

So, to paraphrase the usual Congressional question, "What's in it for us?"

On the positive side, the President did make overtures towards a more bi-partisan second year by offering tax credits and the elimination of capital gains taxes on small business as well as the mention of innovation in our energy strategy to include, new nuclear power plants, off shore oil and gas development and clean coal technology.

However, the President continued with his insistence that Congress must pass Cap and Trade (Cap and Tax) because of the

We are watching television coverage of the worst humanitarian disaster we have ever seen.  We're sure that you, too, have watched with horror at the images emanating from Haiti.

Is it any worse than the tsunami, which hit Phuket a few years ago? We won't hazard a guess. But this, somehow, strikes us as a bigger catastrophe. Maybe it's due to Haiti's proximity to the U.S. Or maybe it's due to the ultra-extreme poverty of the country.

In any case, we all seem to feel the need to do something.

And it is at this precise moment that the criminally inclined crawl out from under the dung heap to capitalize on the kindhearted. Looking to line their pockets with your charitable dollars, their criminal activities always seem to bear fruit.

So it is for this reason we are passing along to you a fraud alert from the FBI about a new wave of scams that have popped up overnight to capiltalize on the tragedy in Haiti.

2010 looks to be another challenging year for your family budget with double digit unemployment, smaller bonuses (unless you are on Wall Street!) and tight budgets that mean many of us may face a pay freeze or pay cut rather than a pay raise!

If you are looking to make a few extra bucks this year, don't be fooled by work at home scams. Here are five ideas for legitimate ways you can earn extra money.

Become a Census Worker

It's that time again....the big "count" is on and you can count on some extra bucks if you help Uncle Sam!

"Enumerators" (door-to-door census-takers) are in huge demand in many parts of
America.

You don't need any special skills. All you need to do is take a basic qualifications test.

We talked with our local Census office here in Florida and the Census Bureau here is paying a little more than $14 per hour for Enumerators. That hourly wages varies by area of the country, so visit the

You can see Daria and I on CNN each Saturday talking about the week's biggest money news and taking your questions.  Tune in every Saturday between 2-2:30 p.m.

In case you missed us this weekend, here is a clip of this week's CNN appearance.

A whopping 55% of us requested and received a gift card as a holiday present.  If you were one of them, don't make the mistake of putting the card in the drawer to spend later. A lot of those put-away gift cards never get spent!

Many times we just forget that we received it or, worse yet, forget where we put it contributing to about $5 billion in unspent money. Wow!

So as you sit reading this think about what you'd like to get with your gift card(s) today or tomorrow or no later than the weekend. Many stores are still in "clean out the last of the inventory" mode, which means there are bargains to be had.

When you go to the store plan on spending all of it even if it means contributing a few extra dollars to the purchase. Trying to buy something that won't cost you a penny extra usually means there are a few dollars left to the card's value. Rarely does that small amount get spent. So what you've accomplished doing is basically throwing a few dollars away in the trash.

I love this time of year (Ken here) - but not for the reason you might think. Sure, I love the holidays -- celebrating with family and friends, the spirit of goodwill. But that's not it.

I love this time of year is because as the year draws to a close, each and every one of us has a chance to start fresh in the new year.

Goodness knows, we are all ready to close the books on what has been a very difficult 2009. But rather than just saying "good riddance" to 2009, embrace this chance to make 2010 a better year.

And get started TODAY!

Make 2010 the year you make your money work as hard for you as you work for it. It's easier than you think. It starts right now with a simple click.

Discover our 10 simple money moves that will help you keep more, spend less and live richer in 2010!

In a stunning breakthrough, the government has confirmed that money DOES, in fact, now grow on trees. The proof?

Exhibit A: The Deficit. Our government has run up an astounding $10 trillion deficit and the pork keeps flowing.

Exhibit B: The Bailouts and stimulus programs. $700 billion to banks, $540 billion to shore up mutual funds, $123 billion to rescue AIG- that's almost $1.4 trillion out the door!  Cash for clunkers, cash for caulkers, and on and on.

Wait...what's that you say? You don't have a money tree growing in your backyard?? You actually have to balance your family budget? Faced with lower wages, fewer jobs, skyrocketing costs and big investment losses, you are actually tightening your belts to make ends meet and shore up your savings?!?

OF COURSE YOU ARE!

And if you are feeling squeezed, you're not alone.

In a recent survey, we asked you and your fellow Dolans.com readers