Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Useful information on 501(c)(4)s and 527s and the IRS’s scrutiny dilemma

by Linda Beale Useful information on 501(c)(4)s and 527s and the IRS’s scrutiny dilemma A fellow tax professor at Loyola University, Ellen Aprill, has put together a useful powerpoint on the way political activity comes into play in deciding whether an organization is eligible for 501(c)(4) status or should instead be treated as a 527 […]

Remember When the IRS Targeted Liberals?

by Linda Beale Remember When the IRS Targeted Liberals? Salon’s Alex Seitz-Wald has a story that provides additional context on the difficulty the IRS has in determining appropriate filters for political activity. See “When the IRS targeted liberals: Under George W. Bush, it went after the NAACP, Greenpeace, and even a liberal church,” Salon.com (May […]

How Apple avoids US taxes with shell games

by Linda Beale How Apple avoids US taxes with shell games Tomorrow’s Congressional hearing on the ability of major multinationals to shift profits offshore to avoid US tax (and everywhere-else tax) may finally get the attention of the American public onto a tax issue worth thinking about. As today’s New York Times makes clear, Apple […]

How The Great Moderation Destroyed the Fed’s Credibility

Much ado is made of the Fed’s “credibility,” which is dog-whistle-speak for its ability, willingness, and decided inclination to jump all over any (expected or imagined) whiff of that horrifying threat — inflation! — especially the most terrifying bogeyman, “wage inflation.” You won’t, on the other hand, find “credibility” discussed when people speak of the […]

Rules? In a Knife Fight?!

Allan Marks, in a comment on a Krugman post, reminds me of one of my favorite scenes in filmdom. Krugman’s complaining that he doesn’t understand the rules that his detractors are arguing by, and Marks suggests he watch this (55 seconds): Is anyone else wishing our esteemed President knew the rules for knife fights? Cross-posted […]

Fed’s Dudley Agrees: QE is Not About the Reserves, or “Printing Money”

Or: “Dudley Makes Mock of the Monetarists.” In my post The Fed is not “Printing Money.” It’s Retiring Bonds and Issuing Reserves, I said: …when the Fed gives the banks reserves and retires bonds, it’s taking on market risk/reward, replacing it with absolutely nonvolatile, risk/reward-free assets (at least in nominal terms). It’s removing leverage and volatility from […]

The Internal Blue Cross/Blue Shield Revenue Service. Awesome!

“Since the I.R.S. also is the chief enforcer of Obamacare requirements, [Michele Bachmann] asked whether the I.R.S.’s admission means it ‘will deny or delay access to health care’ for conservatives. At this point, she said, that ‘is a reasonable question to ask.’ ” — Bob Unruh, Why Obama Released Embarrassing IRS Bombshell, WND Exclusive, May […]

High Marginal Tax Rates are Associated with High GDP Growth

After hinting at it for months, I can finally post the abstract of and a link to “Top Marginal Taxation and Economic Growth” by my student Santo Milasi The paper explores the relationship between statutory top marginal tax rates on personal income and long-run economic growth. While theoretical models of endogenous growth explicitly allow for […]