Each year, Tom and Cindy Bates (who file married-filing jointly) report itemized deductions of $10,000, including an annual $4,000 pledge payment to their church. Upon the advice of a friend, they do the following: In early January 2017, they pay their 2016 pledge; during 2017, they pay the 2017 pledge; and in late December 2017, they prepay their 2018 pledge. a. What are the Bateses trying to accomplish?
b. What would the Bates' total itemized deductions be if all three church pledge payments were made in 2017? Assume that the itemized deductions of $10,000 already included one year of the church pledge payments.
$
What will be the Bates' tax saving if their marginal tax bracket is 25% for all three years?
(Assume that the standard deduction amounts for 2017 and 2018 are the same.)
By concentrating their charitable contributions, their tax savings becomes $.
c. Complete a letter to Tom and Cindy Bates (8212 Bridle Court, Reston, VA 20194) summarizing your analysis.

5. profit maximization and shutting down in the short run suppose that the market for polos is a competitive market. the following graph shows the daily cost curves of a firm operating in this market. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 price (dollars per polo) quantity (thousands of polos) mc atc avc for each price in the following table, calculate the firm's optimal quantity of units to produce, and determine the profit or loss if it produces at that quantity, using the data from the previous graph to identify its total variable cost. assume that if the firm is indifferent between producing and shutting down, it will produce. (hint: you can select the purple points [diamond symbols] on the previous graph to see precise information on average variable cost.) price quantity total revenue fixed cost variable cost profit (dollars per polo) (polos) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) (dollars) 12.50 135,000 27.50 135,000 45.00 135,000 if the firm shuts down, it must incur its fixed costs (fc) in the short run. in this case, the firm's fixed cost is $135,000 per day. in other words, if it shuts down, the firm would suffer losses of $135,000 per day until its fixed costs end (such as the expiration of a building lease). this firm's shutdown price—that is, the price below which it is optimal for the firm to shut down—is per polo.

Instructions: use the following information to construct the 2000 balance sheet and income statement for carolina business machines. round all numbers to the nearest whole dollar. all numbers are in thousands of dollars. be sure to read the whole problem before you jump in and get started. at the end of 1999 the firm had $43,000 in gross fixed assets. in 2000 they purchased an additional $14,000 of fixed asset equipment. accumulated depreciation at the end of 1999 was $21,000. the depreciation expense in 2000 is $4,620. at the end of 2000 the firm had $3,000 in cash and $3,000 in accounts payable. in 2000 the firm extended a total of $9,000 in credit to a number of their customers in the form of accounts receivable. the firm generated $60,000 in sales revenue in 2000. their cost of goods sold was 60 percent of sales. they also incurred salaries and wages expense of $10,000. to date the firm has $1,000 in accrued salaries and wages. they borrowed $10,000 from their local bank to finance the $15,000 in inventory they now have on hand. the firm also has $7,120 invested in marketable securities. the firm currently has $20,000 in long-term debt outstanding and paid $2,000 in interest on their outstanding debt. over the firm's life, shareholders have put up $30,000. eighty percent of the shareholder's funds are in the form of retained earnings. the par value per share of carolina business machines stock is

After the embarrassing sign incident at the restaurant you own, you decide to offer employees a six-week fundamental writing skills workshop. a local business communication instructor, who has experience teaching writing skills at treleaven community college, will facilitate the sessions. to encourage employees to attend these optional sessions, write an email that explains why you’re offering the workshop and why employees should participate.