Friday, October 30, 2009

Unmasking the Deductibility of Halloween Costumes

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Ah, yes, Halloween again looms, and once again it’s time to make MauledAgain particularly frightening. In years past, I have focused on suga...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Revamping Philadelphia’s Tax System

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Last week, the City of Philadelphia Task Force on Tax Policy and Economic Competitiveness delivered to the mayor and City Council its final...
Monday, October 26, 2009

How Can Asking Questions Improve Tax and Spending Policies?

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One of the friction points in the debate between those advocating major tax reductions or even elimination and those advocating funneling mo...
Friday, October 23, 2009

Getting Ready for More Tax Errors of the Ominous Kind

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Thanks to Paul Caron’s TaxProf Blog post , I found my way to The Report of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Ensuring t...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009

VAT Proposal Problematic Beneath Deceptive Surface

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On Sunday, the Philadelphia Inquirer printed an editorial that advocated enactment of a federal value-added tax as a source of revenue to f...
Monday, October 19, 2009

Why the Nation Needs Tax Education

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From time to time, more often than not, I point out the need for American citizens to become educated about the federal income tax system. M...
Friday, October 16, 2009

You’ve Gotta Give ‘Em (a Tax) Credit?

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Lobbyists are quite skilled at persuading legislators to fork over the citizens’ money for the pet projects of the lobbyists’ clients. A goo...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

First Check the Tax Facts

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One of the basic principles I try to push into the brains of my tax students is that speculation about laws and outcomes wastes energy unles...
Monday, October 12, 2009

Revising the Board of Revision of Taxes

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There is light at the end of the dreary, depressing, and disappointing tunnel of Philadelphia real property tax assessment and administratio...
Friday, October 09, 2009

Who Doesn’t Pay Federal Income Tax?

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Recently, news reports have circulated data concerning the number of individuals who pay no federal income tax. For example, this CNN report...
Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Another Step Toward Elimination of All Taxes?

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A few days ago, a Philadelphia Inquirer article explained that one of the provisions in the Pennsylvania budget deal that is getting a roug...
Monday, October 05, 2009

Tax as a Measure of Values

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So what does it mean when politicians decide that sales taxes should be imposed on tickets to cultural events but not sporting events, that ...
Friday, October 02, 2009

Is It Going to Get Worse than Taxation?

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About a week ago, in It Could Be Worse Than Taxation, Worse Than Stimulus , I noted an English precedent for stimulating an industry, not th...