Friday, November 30, 2007

Revisiting How Lawyers Communicate

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My post Monday a week ago on the difficulties clients have understanding their lawyers, Clients to Lawyers: We Don't Understand You , br...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Revisiting IRS Compliance Audits

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Several weeks ago, in Congress and Tax Audits: Criticizing Others for Its Own Mess , I explored the ramifications of the news that the IRS h...
Monday, November 26, 2007

Social Security Email: Nonsense Breeds Nonsense

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Someone sent me an email last week, on the topic "Social Security." I'm not going to republish the entire message, particularl...
Friday, November 23, 2007

Hi, I'm NOT from the Government But I'm Here to Audit Your Tax Return

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The story of a recent federal income tax case begins as one expects a federal income tax case to begin. A taxpayer files a return, the IRS a...
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Actio Gratiarum

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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I don't plan to post tomorrow, and I have a feeling many regular readers won't be checking in. So though i...
Monday, November 19, 2007

Clients to Lawyers: We Don't Understand You

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A member of the ABA-TAX listserve passed along a chart that reflects the outcome of a 2006 survey of lawyers' affluent clients taken by...
Friday, November 16, 2007

A Few Tax Courses Do Not a Tax Program Make

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On Monday I received a letter from the folks at U.S. News and World Reports, asking me why I had not returned the rankings survey they had s...
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

When Congress Can't Do Things On Time

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It's the time of the year when I begin preparing my spring semester courses. That's a long story in and of itself, which someday I w...
Monday, November 12, 2007

Do Profitable Companies Need Tax Breaks?

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When legislators start tinkering with tax laws to provide special breaks to a few individuals or businesses that fit narrow definitions, the...
Friday, November 09, 2007

How to Fix a Broken Tax System: Speed It Up?

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According to a Philadelphia Inquirer story on Tuesday, the Philadelphia Board of Revision of Taxes has reacted to the fuss about the $250,0...
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Congress and Tax Audits: Criticizing Others for Its Own Mess

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It has taken a few months, but the IRS announcement in June that it was restarting its compliance audit program is now getting attention, a...
Monday, November 05, 2007

Philadelphia Real Property Taxes: Pay Up or Lose It

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Real estate property taxes have grabbed the spotlight in Philadelphia and it doesn't appear as though they are willing to exit anytime s...
Friday, November 02, 2007

Real Property Tax Assessment System: Broken and Begging for Repair

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In two earlier posts, An Unconstitutional Tax Assessment System and Property Tax Assessments: Really That Difficult? , I noted that "[...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween Brings Out the Lunacy

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Please, CNN, let this story be a Halloween gag, you know, an October's Fool joke. Please? The revenue folks in Iowa, a state I've a...

Tricky Treating: Teaching Tax Trumps Tasty Tidbit Transfers

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It's Halloween. Somehow, without intending it, I have developed a MauledAgain tradition of focusing on this holiday each year that it ro...
Monday, October 29, 2007

Taxing Our Way Out of Congestion

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Drivers in Philadelphia, like those in other American cities, cope with increasingly slower traffic, growing congestion, longer travel times...
Friday, October 26, 2007

The Power of Chocolate

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Yes, folks, chocolate has so many good qualities. It is medicinal. It tastes good. It has many culinary uses. And now comes news that chocol...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Convicted Tax Evader: It's Not My Fault

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Yes, it's another story of corruption and institutional mismanagement. In Seaport's Carter Asks for Leniency two Philadelphia Inqui...