The crazy train that is Congress just keeps on rolling this week. Despite the overwhelming cost to taxpayers of the homebuyer’s credit, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has caved to housing lobbyists decided that money does, in fact, grow on trees panicked about the number of seats the Dems appear to be losing in…
In an era of shrinking tax revenues, most states are rushing to raise funds by increasing rates and simply taxing more stuff. Rhode Island, however, has a different idea. The tiny New England state may be geographically the smallest in the country but it has big plans to make the state more attractive to business….
Forget dying birds. Who cares about poisoned fish? Those sick fishermen? They’ll totally get over it – after all, it was food poisoning, right, Tony Hayward? What we need in this country is cash. And we can exploit the BP spill to get it. Democrats in the Senate have come up with a way to…
Summer is shaping up to be busy for me. In a down economy, I was planning on a little bit of free time come June since summer is traditionally my “off-season” in the tax world. But that’s not happening – there’s no slowdown and I’m not complaining. If you’re busy, too – and I hope…
Despite opposition from the G-20 to a global bank tax, the UK will move ahead with its own version of the tax. Chancellor George Osborne is widely expected to include the tax in his June 22 budget. The tax, which is similar to the one proposed in the US, would be levied on banks in…
Last week, the Internal Revenue Service began accepting applications for the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) grant programs, which will allow some organizations to apply for annual funding for up to three years. Applications will be accepted June 1, 2010, through July 9, 2010. Previous grant recipients will…
The IRS will open approximately two hundred IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers across the country today to provide help to individual taxpayers dealing with notices and payments, return preparation and a variety of other tax issues. Each office will be open from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. local time. To find a center near you, click…
I was thrilled to be asked by the folks at Forbes to follow up on my tax amnesty piece that was posted here on taxgirl. You can read my take here.
My daughter asked me the other day why the birds couldn’t breathe. It took me awhile to figure out that she was talking about what’s going on in the Gulf. We’re going on day 46 of the BP spill. So far, BP has tried robots, drilling a relief well, a contaminant dome, “Top Hat”, “Top…
Taxpayer asks: My brother works for a company who pays $12K a year for his health insuranceHe is 64, single, no children, no ex-wifeMy brother understands starting in 2011 the government will treat the $12K as income and he will be taxed on itAlso because it is over $8,000 a year it is considered a…