What movies, music, and celebrity headlines can teach us about taxes — Taxgirl’s take on tax in pop culture and the news.
Quick, show of hands: who wants to pay more in taxes? That’s what I thought. Clearly, Amazon.com is right. The online retail giant is planning on asking voters to chime in on whether they want to pay more in taxes. Okay, not exactly. They’re really asking voters in California to overturn the controversial new state law requiring…
As a mom, I’ve seen it a million times. One kid promises to play nice and doesn’t. So the other kid gets mad and throws a tantrum, calls some names. And the other kid says mean things back. And then it spirals out of control. It’s a tough situation to handle with five year olds….
Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann one-upped the competition when instead of sticking with the routine “no new taxes” mantra being recited, she suggested “no taxes.” Well, not forever. Bachmann indicated that she would support a one year moratorium on federal income taxes. Wow, right? Bachmann made the comments in response to a question posed by…
When LeBron James hits the court in Nike apparel, does it make you like Nike more or less? What about David Beckham wearing (sort of) Armani underwear or Adidas sportswear? Do those endorsements make you want to go out and support those brands? Major labels seem to think so, signing up a number of athletes,…
Americans love their soda. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (report downloads as a pdf), in 2004, the average American consumed 37 gallons of carbonated, non-diet soft drinks. That works out 59,000 calories – or roughly the equivalent of 17 pounds in one year. In good news for the soda industry,…
I’m often asked whether I want my kids to grow up to become lawyers. The assumption most people have, since I’m a lawyer married to a lawyer, is that I do. In fact, my routine response is that we tell the kids that they can be anything that they want to be with the exception…
The bizarre saga involving former Hollywood tax attorney Matthew G. Krane appears to finally have come to a close. Krane was sentenced yesterday to 2-1/2 years in federal prison for his role in a tax shelter scheme. Krane had pleaded guilty in 2009 to evading tax by failing to claim $36 million in undeclared income…
Josephine Robinson, a former tax attorney for the Italian luxury fashion house Gucci has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of racial discrimination. The lawsuit, Robinson v. Gucci America (U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11 CV 3742) which was filed on June 2, specifically names top executives in the company, including…
When Wesley Snipes was found guilty on tax evasion charges, he vowed to appeal. And appeal he did. Over and over. That, however, may finally be coming to an end. This morning, Snipes’ petition for certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court. You might have heard this referred to as “denied cert” or “cert denied”…
It has been quite an eventful month for Casey Anthony. The 25 year old Florida woman faced prosecutors in court for the first time this month on charges of first-degree murder in connection with the 2008 death of her daughter, Caylee. Caylee was reported missing to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on July 15, 2008,…