Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 22, 1993 TAG: 9304220254
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY REED
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: You're in luck, but it'll take awhile. The Department of Transportation has a plan on the books to widen another 2.3 miles of the Bent Mountain Road, from where the current project ends out to the intersection with Virginia 752.
Preliminary engineering work is scheduled to begin in July 1994. Construction could start in July 1997. The reason for the long time frame is money - expected to be in the neighborhood of $11 million.
The current widening project isn't expected to be paid off until about 1996.
That's a curvy piece of road and it carries a lot of traffic - from some fairly new subdivisions and from Floyd County natives and newcomers who drive in to work every day.
Lottery's tax hook
Q: Has the legislature done anything about prepaying of tax if you should win the lottery? It's almost crazy to try to win money at an older age if your children cannot afford to pay taxes when they come into the money. R.H., Vinton
A: It's the IRS, not the state, at the heart of this matter.
The situation is this: If a lottery winner dies having collected only one or two years' payments, the heirs must pay taxes on the cash value remaining in the jackpot.
Roughly, the numbers could look like this: with $1.2 million in remaining payments expected over the next 19 years, the cash value of the jackpot would be $600,000. Estate taxes due on that could come to $330,000, due immediately.
That situation could bankrupt many heirs.
At the state level, the law was changed three years ago to clarify that lottery winners are not entitled to payments except once a year, and the remaining jackpot is held in the name of the commonwealth.
The IRS takes a tough stance, though. One way to reduce this tax liability has been for winners to share the prize with their adult children. But in Ohio recently, the IRS ruled that winners had to prove there was a prior written agreement to share the prize, made before the winning ticket was purchased.
Any change in the IRS code will have to be made by Congress.
These jets leave no trail
Q: How come the fighter jets that swoop over my house in the mountains don't leave vapor trails, but the commercial jets do? K.K., Christiansburg
A: Temperature is the reason.
The military planes flying practice routes over your home just outside of Christiansburg are in the comfort zone temperature-wise - seldom cooler than 30 degrees when they're within 1,000 feet of land.
Their engines spew out moisture but it doesn't freeze, so you don't see it.
Commercial jets fly at 30,000 feet or so in temperatures around 30 degrees below zero. Tiny water droplets from their engines freeze into white crystals to form condensation trails, or contrails.
Got a question about something that might affect other people too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
by CNB