As the stimulus plan works its way through the Senate, it appears to be losing popularity among US taxpayers. At the end of 2008, taxpayers were clamoring for a stimulus package, although there was not a lot of agreement as to what should be included. So Congress and President Obama went to work. What has…
Taxpayer asks: What are community property states? Taxgirl says: Argh. This is like an evil bar exam question (my personal theory on community property states is that they exist just to confuse innocent law students on exams). Arizona California Idaho Louisiana Nevada New Mexico Texas Washington Wisconsin And though it’s not a state, Puerto Rico…
You won’t get it today. Newly confirmed Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner was slated to announce details of the revised bank bailout plan on today but that’s not going to happen. The Treasury is moving the planned speech ahead to tomorrow in order to focus on the economic stimulus bill. The bill is being…
Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, offered an interesting Op-Ed piece in the New York Times this week. Hastings joins the ranks of Ben Stein and Warren Buffet in calling for tax raises for… the ultra rich. Hastings believes that those in the upper classes, like himself, can afford to pay more in taxes –…
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated that the newly “trimmed” stimulus package will go to a vote in the Senate on Monday. The bill now costs approximately $827 billion. You would have thought that the Senate had found the cure for cancer, as they congratulated each other for finally agreeing on something. They…
It’s Fix the Tax Code Friday! Not too long ago, I answered an “ask the taxgirl” question about credit card interest on tax returns. It was surprising to hear that some folks still believed that personal interest was deductible – especially since it had been eliminated over 20 years ago. My fellow tax bloggers were…
That’s right, I said, “Win an A in Tax Law.” That’s because it’s ba-a-a-ck! My popular “Write a post for taxgirl” contest for law and paralegal students at taxgirl is back for a second year. So let’s get to the good stuff. How do you enter? Write a guest post for taxgirl.com about any hot…
US District Court Judge Donald Graham has ruled that the show will go one: two time Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves – and more importantly, one-time winner of the “Dancing With the Stars” mirrored disco ball – failed to convince Judge Graham to grant his motion to dismiss charges in his federal tax evasion case….
Taxpayers have been crying foul for weeks now after it was revealed that executives of failing financial institutions were still being rewarded with extraordinary payouts. How big were the payouts? If you include stock options, bonuses, and perks, the chief executives of 10 banks which received $161 billion in federal bailout money took home a…
In case you missed it, I was interviewed for today’s front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer. You can read the article, titled Tax Revelations of Rich, Powerful Irk Honest Filers, here. I was asked to comment about how everyday taxpayers were reacting to the scandals swirling around Obama nominees Geithner, Daschle, and Killefer, each of…