by Linda Beale Right-Wing Mythology 101: the myth of the rich fleeing taxes One of the right-wing’s most cherished myths is that highly progressive taxes will kill state revenues, since the rich who have the money to pay them will simply move to a more accommodating jurisdiction.This is repeated in most conversations I’ve had with […]
by Linda Beale Mark Thoma puts Holtz-Eakin on (figurative) hot seat As most of the Angry Bear and ataxingmatter readers know, I do not frequently applaud the economic punditry of those freshwater economists who think the way to deal with the problem of failed market fundamentalism policies is to double-down on those failed policies. I’ve […]
I was watching C span Washington Journal this morning. Rep Marsha Blackburn was the guest. I got to listen to her explanation of how the Social Security funds flow and just had to post the clip. Copied from the transcript of the clip: THEIRS MONEY THAT GOES TO MEDICARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY AND I THINK […]
by Linda Beale Charitable Contribution Deduction–Camp Hearings Feb 14 Rep. Camp’s Ways & Means Committee held hearings today on the charitable contribution deduction. To watch the hearings, you can go to this website. Camp is planning a tax code rewrite, which he says is intended to lower rates, simplify the code, and curb some tax […]
by Linda Beale Let the Wars Start–only when we are willing to pay for them The op-ed page of the New York Times often has some thoughtful items worth reading. Russell Rumbaugh’s A Tax to Pay for War, New York Times (Feb. 11, 2013), at A17 is one of them. As Rumbaugh notes, the slight […]
by Linda Beale Soon-to-be Google litigation with IRS over 2003-4 returns? Bloomberg dug into Google’s annual SEC 10-k filing to discover that the company plans to litigate an issue from the 2003 and/or 2004 tax years. No suit has yet been filed, and there is no information regarding the substance of the dispute or the […]
by Linda Beale More on PTINs for previously unregulated tax return preparers After considering the problems caused by incompetent or fraudulent tax return preparers who were not attorneys, accountants or admitted to practice before the IRS as enrolled agents, the IRS released a study in 2010 on tax return preparation with recommendations for regulation of […]
by Linda Beale S&P faces civil charges for mortgage bond ratings The Justice Department’s efforts to reach a settlement with Standard & Poor’s Rating Services about the ratings provided to mortgage bonds leading up to the financial crisis have failed, and it appears that civil charges will be filed by the Justice Department and state […]
by Linda Beale Red state tax “reform” and “economic growth” As most tax practitioners and academics know, Professor Paul Caron maintains a “tax prof blog” that provides timely links to most things tax in major papers, blogs, journals, conferences and the like, as well as announcements and releases from theIRS, Treasury and Congress related to […]
by Linda Beale Dell restructuring–all for a tax advantage? David Cay Johnston writes for Tax Analysts, in Dell’s Multiple Restructurings Aid It in Tax Avoidance (2013), about a global reorganization disclosed by Dell in its January 2007 Form 8-K filed with the SEC: “just before the end of 2006, [Dell] issued more than 475 million […]