Although the Bush tax cuts are making the most news these days (a logical focus considering the size and scope of the cuts), Congress is considering a number of other tax-related proposals. Among the concerns is what to do about the Making Work Pay Credit. The credit was only made law for two years (2009…
Today, at a hardware store in Virginia, the GOP hopes to with their “Pledge for America.” I had hoped to upload it to the site but it’s a bit larger than my blogging software wanted to deal with: it’s an astounding 135 MB. If you want to check it out in its entirety, you’ll have…
You get a car! And you get a car! Remember when Oprah gave out cars like other people give out refrigerator magnets and foam cup holders? Audience members were thrilled with her generosity – until they realized that they had to pay income tax on their newfound luck. That’s because there’s literally no such thing…
I love a good challenge, don’t you? The University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center) hopes that you do. They’re hosting their first ever Intellectual Property Tax Challenge. Here’s how it works. JD and LLM students are encouraged to register now for the challenge that will address a complex intellectual…
And by “suddenly” I mean months later, after they passed it as part of a bill that they clearly didn’t read… But now that folks are ramping up their complaints over the new tax reporting requirement that was included, logically (not), in the health care bill, both Dems and the GOP have decided that they…
This has to be my favorite tax story of the week (even better than my vodka story, coming later today). The Telegraph (UK) is confirming reports that Romania’s Senate has voted down a proposal to tax witches and fortune tellers because… wait for it… they were scared of being cursed. Yeah, I’m not making that…
CNN has just released a collection of poll questions asked and answered during the first full week of August 2010 (downloads as a pdf). It’s a pretty compelling, though not particularly eye-opening, read. In this election year, the focus seems to be on two key issues: taxes and health care reform. It’s not surprising, then,…
If a member of Congress was ever qualified to speak up about the space program, I’d say Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) would fit the bill. In 1986, Nelson became the second sitting member of Congress to travel into space (Sen. Jake Garn (R-UT) was the first). Now, in an effort to boost interest in commercial…
Despite the fact that Pennsylvania’s tax amnesty campaign was routinely cited as “mean” and “inappropriate”, the Department of Revenue (“DOR”) felt that it worked. The DOR collected $261 million, about 40% than they had hoped for, which, while impressive, is statistically not as successful as a state like New Jersey which collected more than 3…
It’s a tough economy all over these days. It’s not just the feds struggling to raise revenue – state and local governments are facing the same challenges. Ideas abound for plugging holes in the budget, including raising tax rates to implement new taxes on everything from soda to legal services. Some governments, however, have decided…