As a renter, over the last few years I’ve been receiving $75 tax rebates, usually by surprise, months after filing taxes. On the governor’s budget plan, the rebate for renters will increase up to $350. Low income renters will see this biggest increase, while those earning between $50,001 and $100,000 like myself will get an increase of only $5.

For renters, an estimated 18% of the total rent paid over the year goes towards property taxes. For me, at $900 a month for my one bedroom apartment, about $1,944 goes towards property tax according to this estimate. The $80 rebate is about 4% of that property tax “bill.”

Homeowners will get much larger rebates, between 10% and 20% of their entire property tax bill. [Home News Tribune: Rebate Increases Set]

If I were a trader, I might look at yesterday’s drop as a buying opportunity for today, but with a long term view, it won’t change anything that I’m doing as far as investing this year.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan thinks we’re heading for a recession this year. This is not long after the Dow was setting record highs.

With the markets tanking a bit yesterday, have your investing plans changed? Was this the sign of a correcting trend or just a short-term blip?

Each day this week, I’m selecting a random commenter to win a copy of You Call the Shots by Cameron Johnson (reviewed here). Yesterday’s winner is Clever Dude! He commented on the post about the guy living out of his car.

I only have three copies of the book left to give away to lucky readers. You qualify to win with each comment you leave on Consumerism Commentary. You don’t have to be a blogger to win, you just have to write in with a comment. As long as you include your email address so I can contact you, you will qualify. In fact, if you leave more than one comment, you’ll have that many chances to win.

This year I’m looking back by linking to some of the more interesting posts from this week in previous years. Here are some from February 23-28, 2006:

• Feb. 25: Bank Robbers Steal Worthless £50m (10 comments)
• Feb. 26: Retire to the Road (4 comments)
• Feb. 27: Worrisome Market (9 comments)
• Feb. 28: Schadenfreude (3 comments)
• Feb. 28: HOWTO Deal With Winning the Lottery (9 comments)

• Feb. 28: Women Earn More Than Men (3 comments)

  From February 23-28, 2005:

• Feb. 27: What My Future May Hold (8 comments)

A few months ago, television watchers like myself were bombarded by commercials featuring a young man attempting to “live” out of his car for a few days. However, this guy has been doing it since July 2005. Andy Bussell lives out of his pickup truck, sleeping in the back. He wakes up, showers at the university gym, attends classes, then goes to work at the Apple Store. To keep himself from going insane, he is a yoga-practicing, guitar-playing rock climber. Always pushing him towards insanity are the voluntary living conditions:

What he misses most are a kitchen and a bathroom. To deal with the former, he buys food such as yogurt and fruit in small quantities; for as regards the latter, he takes advantage of public facilities. On occasion, he has resorted to employing an empty Gatorade bottle.

Andy decided to lean towards the simpler life when his credit card debt kept piling up. Now that he has been able to save some money, his debt is almost all paid off.

This adventure takes place in California; living in the Northeast, you would need to leave the heat on in order to survive in your car. The frequent gasoline fill-ups would negate any savings you’d manage to keep. [via Consumerist]

Yesterday, Binary Dollar posted the latest Carnival of Personal Finance, with “celebrity” mug shots. Here are some of my favorite articles:

• MyMoneyForest: The Biggest Waste of Money Ever (an expensive wedding dress)
• Money Under 30: What the Housing Market Means For Under 30 Homeowners and First Time Buyers
• No Credit Needed: Attitudes About Debt And Credit Cards (this is about bloggers, not about money, really)

• My New Choice: Lower Your Taxes By Saving

  That should provide a good starting point. Browse the rest of the celebrities for additional interesting articles from the personal finance blogosphere. The Carnival of Personal Finance is a weekly “traveling” exhibition of what bloggers consider their best writing from the previous week.

Here is Kiplinger’s predictable 12-step program for becoming a millionaire, which inevitable contains ”... and wait” somewhere. This guide is geared towards corporate workers who live and die by the paycheck.

1. Keep your eyes peeled for better ways to do your job. While Milton Wadams was slowly finding himself out of a job, thinking of something creative will help you stand out and make executives want to keep you around.

2. Don’t be afraid to negotiate. Here are 8 tips for negotiating a salary. I’m not quite up to expert negotiator status, and I’ve had this book on my wish list for a while.

3. Get your ducks in a row and your numbers on paper. There’s another vote for checking your market range on Salary.com, but I still believe their surveys are inaccurate.

4. Plot your strategy when it’s time to move on. The article suggests creating a professional-looking MySpace page. Do recruiters and hiring managers look at MySpace when making their decisions? I find that very hard to believe, even when we’re living in the future like we are. I do think it’s important to have a professional internet presence, but I think most corporate workers are better off ignoring MySpace.

5. Contribute as much as you can to your 401(k) and other tax-deferred retirement plans… and wait.

6. Flex your tax-saving muscle. Use a flexible spending account to pay for medical expenses to reduce your tax liability.

7. Review your tax withholding. The article points to this tax withholding calculator so W2 workers can ensure they’re not giving the government an interest-free loan. That money can go to work throughout the year, if you’re disciplined.

8. Stash savings in a Roth IRA if you’re eligible. The law says you’ll be able to withdraw your earnings after retirement without any taxes due. Let’s hope they don’t decide to change that law in the next thirty years or so.

9. Don’t delay. The best time to start thinking about increasing your net worth all ready passed. Since no one has yet perfected time travel, the next best time to start is now, and you’ll regret it if you don’t.

10. Invest automatically. When your money automatically disappears before you can touch it, maybe you won’t even notice it’s not there. When I first started my corporate job, I signed up for Direct Deposit because it was a pain to get to the bank. Then I set up automatic transfers from that checking account to a savings account slightly out of reach for everyday expenses.

11. Watch for fund fees. Even index funds can have high fees, so don’t make any assumptions. Check your prospectus before you make any investment decisions, and learn how to understand it so you know what you’re reading.

12. Keep it simple. The article says it: “Be wary of get-rich-quick schemes or sales pitches for complex investments, such as oil-and-gas partnerships, that trade on the millionaire cachet to lure investors into buying high-fee products they don’t understand. Most millionaire households accumulate their wealth over the long term by sticking to a regular investing plan in a balanced portfolio.”

Each of these 12 steps makes a small difference in the immediate term, but if you hang on and build these thoughts into your personal philosophy, eventually the rewards will be in your bank account. [Kiplinger’s Personal Finance/MSN Money: 12 steps to become a millionaire]

My girlfriend is a hopeless romantic. For Valentine’s Day, part of her gift for me included the Office Space DVD and a special edition Red Swingline Stapler. The movie is one of those films that rings true for many people working as I do in a “cube farm.”

Now when my own version of Mr. Lumbergh walks by my cubicle with a “What’s happening…” I will be the envy of him and my other coworkers. They better not move my stapler, though.

The stapler in the movie was designed by the prop department. Swingline never made bright red staplers. After the movie became such a hit, they received so many requests for the red stapler, they designed one to meet the demand. The stapler’s packaging makes a subtle reference to the movie, declaring the stapler “the star of any office space.”

It doesn’t look exactly like the stapler that was spray-painted for use in the movie, but it’s close enough for me. It doesn’t bind up as much. Thanks for the gift, A!