Where tax policy meets politics — legislation, elections, and the debates in Washington that decide how (and how much) you’re taxed.
When Forbes magazine President and CEO Steve Forbes called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson “the worst treasury secretary we’ve had in modern times,” it made for some good chuckles on late night television, but not many people seemed to pay attention. I have a feeling that will be changing. Paulson keeps changing his mind, it seems,…
2008 may well be known as the year of the crooked politician. Political official after political official from PA State Senator Vincent Fumo to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on a host of criminal charges. Now, Larry Langford, Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, joins the list. On yesterday, the FBI arrested Langford on federal…
President Elect Barack Obama has promised that he will do “whatever it takes” to stimulate the economy. While he hasn’t laid out the entire plan, Obama has put an economic team in place to begin work on a stimulus package. Calling the potential package “costly” (imagine that!), Obama refused to put a price tag on…
It’s Fix the Tax Code Friday! For most of the week, the headlines have involved the crisis in the automotive industry with eyes on the “Big Three”: Ford, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler. Execs from the Big Three jetted to DC to beg lawmakers for loans worth billions of dollars, warning that the failure to…
If you watched President Elect Obama’s first press conference, you might have heard him say: The one thing I can say with certainty is that we are going to need to see a stimulus package passed either before or after inauguration. For some, that translated to: another check is on the way. Not so fast….
As part of President elect Barack Obama’s transition, a new website has been created at www.change.gov. When it comes to taxes, Obama’s agenda can be found here. Feedback on the plan/agenda can be submitted to the administration via the web. My personal disclaimer: I’ve been on the web site but I haven’t clicked through beyond…
Taxpayer asks: Taxgirl, First …thank you for your time and effort. I am retired with an income just under 250K. ( 245K to 247K ) My income is a combination of pension ( teacher’s and law enforcement ) , soc security, income property- apartment. This year I also worked part time and earned about 12K….
After a contentious fight, as blogged previously, supporters of Prop 8 declared victory in California on yesterday. Proposition 8 defines marriage as between a man and a woman, effectively banning gay marriage in California. Expect to see this one in court soon – likely on benefits and economic grounds. A federal challenge to the DOMA…
It was a historic day on yesterday with the election of President Elect Barack Obama. It’s almost easy to forget that there were other elections and ballot issues to consider but voters in some states faced a laundry list of issues. Among those were several state tax measures, including: In Arkansas: Voters supported an amendment…
It’s all over the web: freebies for voters! Starbucks, Ben and Jerry’s and Krispy Kreme and other companies announced earlier in the week that they would be offering freebies for voters. This is good, right? Nope, say some pundits. They claim that offering freebies a violation of federal law, citing section 42 USC 1973i(c). Really?…