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Will More People Denouce Their US Citizenship If Taxes Are Raised?

New York Times:  “On April 30, the Treasury Department announced that 461 Americans had renounced their citizenship in the first quarter of 2012. A 1996 law requires that every person doing so be named, with their names published in the Federal Register. The idea is to shame those who may be renouncing their [...]

Tax Traps To Avoid For Doctors And Businesses

Physcians Practice:  “The next 60 days marks the final push to sell physicians across the United States tax plans of both good and questionable value. Promoters of various plans are well aware of the pressures affecting your income and will make a variety of frivolous arguments that appeal to your desire to save. [...]

Arizona Voters to Decide on Bigger Tax Breaks for Businesses

Arizona voters will decide in November whether to allow businesses a break on property taxes for newly acquired equipment.

The Buffett Tax Loss

The Wall St. Journal:  “The case for the Buffett tax keeps eroding. When President Obama announced the idea, he said it would help ‘stabilize our debt and deficits over the next decade.’ Then came the inconvenient revelation that the new 30% millionaire’s tax would raise only $46.7 billion over 10 years, and would [...]

Busting Myths About Rich People’s Taxes

Martin A. Sullivan’s article “Busting Myths About Rich People’s Taxes” published in Tax Analysts on April 16, 2012, is a must read.  It dispels many commonly held myths about the rich and federal taxes.  Here are some statements from the article:

There are good reasons for the government to keep its [...]

How We Pay Taxes: 21 Charts

During these difficult economic times when our leaders are engaging in class warfare and attacking the top “1 percent” all Americans should be informed about federal taxes.  A good start is the information show in the 21 charts depicted on the two articles linked to below.

The Atlantic:  “If you care [...]

Federal Court Tosses Colorado’s Amazon Tax

Denver Post:  “A federal court has thrown out a 2010 Colorado law meant to spur online retailers like Amazon to collect state sales tax. . .  . ‘I conclude that the veil provided by the words of the act and the regulations is too thin to support the conclusion that the act and [...]

How to Handle the Coming Dividend Tax Hike

Smart Money:  “Unless Congress takes action, the top tax rate for the highest earners on most dividends, currently 15%, is set to jump to a whopping 43.4% next year. That is a maximum income-tax rate of 39.6% — since dividends ll once again be taxed as regular income — plus a 3.8% tax [...]

New Federal Law to Find Tax Evaders Denounced

New York Times:  “Legislation meant to help the United States government locate overseas assets of American tax cheats created little stir when it was quietly slipped into a jobs bill last year  But the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, as it is known, is now causing alarm among businesses outside the United States [...]

How Your Tax Bill Can Benefit From Low Rates

Wall Street Journal: Here is one surprise benefit of low interest rates: They can help reduce taxes.

Every month, the Internal Revenue Service resets the interest rates it allows for private loans and various estate-planning transactions carried out that month. The rates for October, issued Sept. 19, are the lowest on [...]

Tax Issues for Same Sex Couples

Wall Street Journal: Same-sex couples can get married in five states and the District of Columbia—and in New York starting July 25. But the happily-ever-after part doesn’t necessarily extend to their personal finances.

Such couples still can’t file a joint federal tax return, share retirement benefits, shield each other’s assets from estate [...]

Send Your Kids To Summer Day Camp and Get a Tax Credit!

Tax Prof Blog:  The IRS yesterday released IRS Summertime Tax Tip 2011-01, Summer Day Camp Expenses May Qualify for a Tax Credit and accompanying YouTube video:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iehimv_UEY4

No Right to Pay Taxes

Tax Prof Blog:  Guess?, Inc. co-founder Georges Marciano has lost his bid in Washington federal court for an order forcing the IRS to investigate his tax returns and liabilities.

Marciano had argued that the audit could reveal money owed to the government that he believes former employees mishandled. In dismissing the [...]

Tax Friendly States for Retirement

Yahoo! Finance:  Where’s the best state for you to retire? Here’s a good place to start your search: These five impose the lowest taxes on retirees in the contiguous U.S., according to our research. All these retiree tax heavens exempt Social Security benefits from state income taxes. Many of them exclude government and [...]

Freedom or Independence?

Mauled Again:  Today is Independence Day, though most people refer to it as “the Fourth of July holiday.” Late last week, while reading a news report about the rather inept manner in which the State of New York has tried to apply its mandatory e-filing requirement to Amish sects that don’t use electricity, [...]

What You Need to Know About Roth IRAs

Investopedia.com:  

Since its introduction under the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, the Roth IRA has become a popular retirement and estate-planning tool among U.S. taxpayers. According to a study done by the Investment Company Institute, Roth IRA assets increased to $215 (estimated) billion as of December 2009.  However, many individuals are [...]

Comprehensive List of Tax Hikes in Obamacare

Americans for Taxpayer Reform:  “Below is a comprehensive list of the two dozen new or higher taxes that pay for Obamcare’s expansion of government spending and interference between doctors and patients.”

Top Earners Pay Almost All of the Federal Income Taxes

The BlogProf:  “After calling for a ‘new civility,’ Obama used his SOTU address to demonize the most productive Americans. Again. A quote from his SOTU speech on January 25, 2011:

‘And if we truly care about our deficit, we simply cannot afford a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of [...]

Fleeced: The upper 1% earned 19.6% of total income before tax, and paid 41% of the individual federal income tax. “No other major country is so dependent on so few taxpayers”

The BlogProf:  “Darned straight! The rich in this country pay far more than their fair share. And not only does bottom 47% of taxpayers pay no federal income tax, but the bottom 40% GET MONEY BACK! That goes right along in consistency with a prior post of mine: 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll: 50% of [...]

New Tax Law Packed with Obscure Business Tax Cuts

Associated Press:  “The massive new tax bill signed into law by President Barack Obama is filled with all kinds of holiday stocking stuffers for businesses: tax breaks for producing TV shows, grants for putting up windmills, rum subsidies for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.  There is even a tax break for people [...]

Evil Bush Tax Rates Made Rich Bastards Pay More Taxes!

Reason.com:  “For all the yammering about the wisdom or tragedy of extending Bush-era tax rates, precious little hot air has been expended on, like, looking at what effects the goddamn things had on who paid how much tax. Back during the 2008 election, . . . the rich (however defined) have been paying [...]

White House Fact Sheet on Proposed Extension of the Bush Tax Cuts

The following is the text of the White House’s December 7, 2010, summary of the deal with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts for two years.

The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, December 7, 2010

Fact Sheet on the Framework Agreement on Middle Class Tax Cuts and Unemployment Insurance

History Shows Higher Tax Rates Do Not Produce More Tax Revenue

Wall St. Journal:  “Tax revenues as a share of GDP have averaged just under 19%, whether tax rates are cut or raised. Better to cut rates and get 19% of a larger pie.  Even amoebas learn by trial and error, but some economists and politicians do not.  The Obama administration’s budget projections claim [...]

Wesley Snipes Ordered To Start Tax Sentence

Forbes:  “A federal judge today ordered actor Wesley Snipes to begin serving a three-year prison sentence meted out following his conviction on criminal tax charges.”

The 10 Highest State Income Tax Rates For 2011

Forbes lists the ten states that have the highest 2011 income tax rates.  They are:

Hawaii:  11% ($200,000 single/$400,000 married) Oregon:  11% ($250,000 single/$500,000 married) California:  10.3% ($1,000,000 single & married) Iowa:  8.98% ($64,755 single & married) New Jersey:  8.97% ($500,000 single & married) New York:  8.97% ($500,000 single & married) Vermont:  8.97% ($379,150 single [...]

IRS Audits From Hell Target Rich

Wall St. Journal:  “Well-heeled investors, beware: The auditors are coming.  An Internal Revenue Service unit set up to look at wealthy taxpayers and their complicated financial arrangements has started rigorous probes of some hedge-fund managers and other investors it suspects may be trying to evade taxes.”

Why We Should Eliminate the Corporate Income Tax

Megan McArdle has a story in Atlantic arguing that the U.S. should dump the corporate income tax.  “The FT has a piece today on the administration’s plans to lower the corporate income tax rate in exchange for simplification–getting rid of a bunch of deductions.  This is a decent plan–and not just because it’s [...]

Billionaire Wins Court Fight that He Was Not a Resident of New York City & Saves $27 Million in NYC Taxes

Forbes:  “A divided three-member New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal has upheld an administrative judge’s finding that billionaire hedge fund pioneer Julian H. Robertson Jr. wasn’t a resident of New York City in 2000, saving him $27 million in tax. . . . The appeals decision and the $27 million hinged on  Robertson’s [...]

Democrats’ Estate Tax Plan Trips Next Secretariat

Amity Shlaes in Bloomberg:  “The estate tax is one topic getting lost in the dust of the midterm races. That’s a pity. This tax, now quiescent, is set to roar back like a stallion in 2011 if lawmakers don’t rein it in with new legislation.  The destruction caused by the estate tax can [...]

Acne Cream? Tax-Sheltered. Breast Pump? No

New York Times:  “Denture wearers will get a tax break on the cost of adhesives to keep their false teeth in place. So will acne sufferers who buy pimple creams.  But nursing mothers will not be allowed to use their tax-sheltered health care accounts to pay for breast pumps and other supplies.”

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