European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 12 8 the stars and stripes Money matters wednesday March 3,1993 it s Theof the age of Tell you How to save Money by David Foster. The associated press Seattle a in a Money hungry world forever chanting a More a Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez find simple pleasure in saying  each lives on a yearly a duct of about $6,000, Well below the Federal poverty level. And while that a not unusual these Days Robin and Dominguez stand out for three reasons a they live As they do by Choice. A they wrote a Book urging everyone to do the same. A people actually Are buying it. The authors have become gurus of the new frugality offering a morning after remedy of Thrift for the 1980s bacchanal of consumerism. Their Book your Money or your life is among a shelf full of popular new business and personal finance offerings emphasizing spiritual As Well As material gains. Grabbing All you can is out making do with what you have is in. Instant gratification is out Long term gains Are in. Conspicuous is out conscious is in. At the heart of it All is a concept that May seem revolutionary to a credit card generation of baby Boomers but was obvious to their grandparents live within your Means. A this is not a fad a Dominguez said. A a it a 6 philosophy upon which this country was founded. This is where we come from. We  there Are plenty of new books and newsletters to help americans remember a your Money or your life published by Viking press inc. In september already is in its sixth printing with More than 100,000 copies distributed. It has made the new York times Best seller list of How to books four times. A the Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn a housewife in leads Maine is full of Homespun hints for pinching pennies buy Peanut butter by the Case make your own pizza instead of ordering out. Published by Villard the Book compiles the first two years of Dacyczyn a monthly newsletter which has grown from 1,700 subscribers to 80,000 since 1990. A the living cheap news published in. San Jose calif., was started in february 1992 by Larry Roth who found the Tightwad Gazette too countrified. His monthly newsletter offers Money saving tips for City slickers. Some advice treads the line Between frugal and downright miserly. For example Roth said he uses the same Coffee grounds for Days but conceded that might not be to everyone a taste. The goal he and the others said is conscious spending not deprivation. A a in a not into hair shirts and torn Levis a Dominguez said. A to into a Cool it the mall is not the new Temple slow it Down. Most Middle class folks Are not going to suffer if they Are salting away 10 percent to 20 percent of their income instead of spending it at the malt a Dominguez and Robin suggested that instead of measuring purchases strictly of the Dollar people should consider How much tune or a life Energy a they lose on the Cam and spend Treadmill. In your Money they offer a sobering calculation of How a seemingly High paying Job can yield surprisingly Little per hour a once the costs of commuting parking meals and Nice clothes Are deducted and then divided by hours working travelling and recovering from Job induced stress and illness. Dominguez and Robin jumped off their own treadmills More than 20 years ago. Dominguez 54, worked As a Wall Street analyst. But after his company folded he resolved at age 25 never to be dependent on an employer again. He got another Job started saving and within five years had socked away $80,000. He quit his Job and has been living off the interest Ever since. Robin 47, grew up in a Well off family on Long Island. Graduating from Brown University she pursued acting in new York but grew disillusioned Ana hit the Road with a $20,000 inheritance. She met Dominguez while travelling in Mexico. The friends now live in Seattle sharing a House with three others. They paid off the mortgage three years ago and Dominguez and Robin Are masters at keeping other costs to Bare Bones. A a a shopping spree for Robin is buying a used jumpsuit at a Thrift shop. Dominguez does his errands rain or Shine by bicycle. Rather than go to restaurants  invite friends Over for a potluck dinner. Their simple lifestyle was supposed to be a Means to an end. Dominguez and Robin said it gave them More time for Volunteer work and meshed with their goal of moving society toward More sustainable less environmentally destructive ways. But friends wondered How they made ends meet so Dominguez started giving living room talks on his financial strategy in 1980. By 1985, he was travelling the country giving seminars in packed auditoriums. When it started seeming too much like work Dominguez produced an audiocassette course in 1986, Selling them through direct mail. More than 30,000 sets have been sold with All proceeds going to the new Road map foundation a nonprofit Volunteer group Dominguez and Robin founded. Interest in frugality spread slowly in the 1980s, then mushroomed in 1990, Robin said. A a it a almost As if we turned the decade and the morning after people knew we were going to have to do something different a she said. A they knew the free flow of Money of the �?T80s was Over a that the faucet was shutting  sin taxes prove less lucrative for governments by Jerry Gray the new York times Trenton . A to the dismay of lawmakers who have religiously depended on Revenue from a sin taxes on tobacco and alcohol to help balance state budgets people Are sinning less. Across much of the nation Revenue from taxes on tobacco and alcohol has fallen by millions of dollars in re cent years driven Down by health concerns changing social mores and the Opportunity to make cheaper purchases elsewhere a legally or illegally. New Jersey is a Leader in this trend. In the proposed 1994 budget that he presented last month gov. James Florio adjusted the estimated income from 1993 taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages from $357 million to $333 million. And the administration projects that Revenue from sin taxes will drop $17 million More in fiscal 1994, which begins july 1, in new York state officials expect Revenue from alcohol taxes to fall by $6.6 million in the new fiscal year to $229 million and cigarette and other tobacco tax receipts to Tumble by $32 million to $525 million. If the decline continues As expected tax officials said Cash poor state and local governments will be forced to raise other taxes impose new ones or Cut services. At the same time Federal officials Are getting More interested in sin taxes. On thursday president Clinton strongly suggested that he would propose higher taxes on tobacco to pay for his health care program saying a bad health habits had Cost the country a lot of Money. A the Golden Goose of sin taxes is just about cooked a said Ronald Alt a senior research associate with the federation of tax administrators. It is a. Washington based nonprofit group representing tax agencies in All 50 states the District of Columbia and new York City. A excise taxes generate Florio. Much smaller percentages of state Revenue then they did 10 to 20 years ago a said Alt citing census statistics. A excise taxes fell from providing 26 percent of budget Revenue for the states in 1972 to 16 percent in 1991.�?� besides alcohol and tobacco excise taxes Are imposed by various states on gasoline phone Calls electricity and car registrations. But alcohol and tobacco taxes have historically been the easiest to raise in part because religious teachings have Long singled out drinking and sub King As sins. Many people Trace the beginning of the Drain on sin taxes Back to 1964, when the surgeon general cited health problems caused by cigarette smoking. More recent reports have addressed the dangers of alcohol especially to pregnant women. Other factors have resulted in a precipitous drop in the number of drinkers and heavy smokers Over the past five years restrictions on smoking in restaurants and workplaces an increase in anti smoking education programs and a trend among younger adults for less expensive drinks with lower alcoholic contents. Anti smoking groups and some insurers said Silt taxes should be raised even higher not to raise Money out to Force people to Stop or at least sharply curtail smoking and drinking. In the Case of Young people they said an added economic Burden May be enough to keep them from starting the habit. If their theory is True the next generation of politicians would not be Able to depend on sin taxes. In a report due for release this month the Council of stale governments based in Lexington ky., Calls sin taxes a a worn out tax source and warns states to begin immediately to look for new sources of Revenue to pay for health care schools prisons and other costs. A states looking for Cash May be fooling themselves by turning to tried and True taxes Quot Doug olberding a research associate with the Council wrote in february in the group s Magazine state government news. A old standbys like the cigarette motor fuels and traditional sales tax Are Likely to leave states spinning their wheels when it comes to generating future Revenue  your debt Burden May help you plan to save by Charles a. Jaffe the Allentown morning Call Many Consumers say they can t save because they never have anything left Over to put away. One of the Best ways to avoid taking on Loo much debt and falling into that trap is to calculate your a debt payment  that Burden is a personal calculation that mirrors for your household what the Federal government Calls the a consumer debt Burden a a radio of total outstanding consumer debt compared with annual after tax income. As of May 1992, the consumer debt Burden was 16.4 percent meaning the average american had consumer Loans a All borrowings except for mortgages a equal to 16.4 percent of his or her take Home pay. But a lot of people stray far from the average. For example a family that borrows Money to fund a child a education could easily surpass that 16.4 percent debt payment Burden. To determine your own debt payment Burden do the following a calculate your annual net income your yearly take Home pay plus interest and dividends bonuses rental income Etc. A Divide that amount by 12. This gives you your monthly disposable income a what you have each month for living expenses debt payments other costs and savings. A add up the monthly payment on All consumer Loans. These include student Loans Auto Loans Home equity Loans checking account overdrafts credit card payments personal Loans and any Money you owe friends or relatives. This does not include your mortgage payment. A once you have totalled these debts Divide this number by your monthly disposable income and multiply by 100. The result is the percentage of your disposable income being used to repay consumer debt. Experts said Many people can live comfortably and still save Money with a debt payment Burden of 15 percent to 20 percent even debt payments equating 30 percent of take Home can work for people with modest living and housing expenses spending discipline and enough Money set aside to cover emergencies. But your debt Burden is definitely too High if All of your monthly income is being spent. If that a the Case experts suggested that you Cut some spending and reviewing or create your household budget so that savings can become part of the picture