Monday, June 30, 2014

Tax Myths: Part II: The IRS Enacted the Internal Revenue Code

›
It is not uncommon to discover someone’s assertion that the IRS has enacted a particular Internal Revenue Code section or even the entire Co...
Friday, June 27, 2014

Tax Myths: Part I: Introduction

›
Misperceptions about taxes abound. I’m not referring to the parade of rationalizations from the tax protest movement, though the terrible co...
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Look at What No-Taxes Gets Us

›
It’s a common complaint, tinged with a bit of humor, often heard when summer driving season rolls around. Highway construction slows traffic...
Monday, June 23, 2014

Taxes and Jobs

›
New Jersey is in a quandary. A budget quandary. It’s not alone, but it presents an interesting example of the sort of choices that must be m...
Friday, June 20, 2014

Taxes Ought Not Be Hidden

›
Earlier this week, in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed , Nicholas E. Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, came out in support of t...
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The Contagiousness of Tax Noncompliance

›
Almost two weeks ago, in Is It Fraud, Negligence, or Simple Tax Hatred? , I wrote about a Republican member of Congress who claimed a proper...
Monday, June 16, 2014

Almost Always, in Tax, We Must Get It Right the First Time

›
A recent case, Baur v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-117, demonstrates why, sometimes, the tax law doesn’t provide a reset button. If we don’t get ...
Friday, June 13, 2014

When the Poor Need Help, Give Tax Dollars to the Rich

›
It truly is amazing that some of the people who complain about their tax bills appear thrilled with a deal that the state of New Jersey has ...
Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Eliminating Taxes Cannot Buy Happiness

›
There is, I think, an addiction that gets little, if any, attention, though some studies, such as the one described in this report , are beg...
Monday, June 09, 2014

Is It Any Wonder People Think the Tax Law is Wacky?

›
The facts are simple. The taxpayer is hired, the employer pays a salary, and the employer also sets aside some money in a deferred compensat...
Friday, June 06, 2014

Is It Fraud, Negligence, or Simple Tax Hatred?

›
Reaching into my pile of topics waiting for attention, I pulled out this story from three weeks ago. A homeowner in Indiana computed the pr...
Wednesday, June 04, 2014

It’s Not a New Tax, Yet Again

›
About a year ago, in It’s Not a New Tax , I explained why legislation to shift collection of a tax is not the equivalent of a new tax. Today...
Monday, June 02, 2014

It’s Not Just Taxes

›
Bartlett D. Cleland, at the Institute for Policy Innovation , has published commentary in which he asks, “What's Wrong with the Middle ...
Friday, May 30, 2014

What Does It Mean to Dispose of A Passive Activity?

›
Section 469(a) prohibits a taxpayer from deducting passive losses in excess of passive income. Under section 469(b), passive losses that can...
Wednesday, May 28, 2014

When Tax Cuts Matter More Than Pothole Repair

›
The danger faced by Americans from the preaching and successes of those who despise taxes and user fees is no less real and surely more exte...