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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

This quote has a number of meaning perhaps.  Jay offers one in the form of a question…and more from Bill Black in an interview: The real news BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Thanks to the grit and determination of the American people, we’ve cleared away the rubble of the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes. So […]

by Linda Beale Moving in the right direction: US, UK, Aussies to share tax info One of the (many) ways by which rich, sophisticated taxpayers who are also ultra-greedy have managed to avoid paying their fair share of taxes is to move money offshore through trusts and “companies” set up in various no-tax/lo-tax, hi-sun jurisdictions […]

by Linda Beale Orrin Hatch on tax reform at the ABA–a predictable right-wing rant Orrin Hatch was the keynote speaker for the ABA Tax Section luncheon today in DC. Having never heard the man in person, I was surprised at the bumbling nature of his speech. He came across as an old man reciting a […]

Rjs sends a link filled note on the ongoing federal financial merry go round: It’s been a pretty slow week, with neither major monthly economic reports nor widespread kerfuffles in the blogosphere…as we figured, all the budget proposals floated earlier this year have gone nowhere, and it now appears that the republicans wont negotiate on […]