Monday, February 28, 2011

A Slimy and Dirty Sales Tax Issue

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Anyone who has explored the world of sales tax exemptions knows that the distinction between taxable and non-taxable items often is a fine l...
Friday, February 25, 2011

Tax Profiteers Resume Takeover Attempts

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The attraction to the private sector of the revenue stream generated by certain public sector activities, such as tolls from toll roads, con...
Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Spending Cuts, Full Disclosures, Hearts, and Voices

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Last month, in Cutting Taxes + Failing to Identify and Enact Spending Cuts = Default? , I noted the dilemma presented by candidates who espo...
Monday, February 21, 2011

Truly, Tax Ignorance Is Frightening

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Last week, Paul Caron’s TaxProf Blog published Maule: The Tax Consequences of Congressional Sleepovers , in which I explained that addition...
Friday, February 18, 2011

On Deficits, Taxes, and Government Spending: Looking Back at the 1940s

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Last week, in So Where Have the Tax Reductions Gone? , I focused on the fact that federal tax receipts, as a percentage of gross domestic pr...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Unintended Consequences of Tax Policy As a Social Tool

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Long-time readers of this blog, like my students who paid attention and my friends and colleagues who listened, know that I object to the us...
Monday, February 14, 2011

Why Teaching Isn’t Just a Matter of What One Knows or Understands

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My Friday morning email from Law.com brought a story whose headline was alarming. Half an hour later, Paul Caron’s email conveying the mor...
Friday, February 11, 2011

So Where Have the Tax Reductions Gone?

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A TaxProf blog post sent me to an interesting AP article , the headline of which must surely take the wind out of the sails of the “our tax...
Wednesday, February 09, 2011

When Tax Cuts Cause Privatization, Taxpayers Pay More, Not Less

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Several weeks ago, in The Price of Insufficient Tax Revenue , I described how the City of Camden, New Jersey, was compelled to make substant...
Monday, February 07, 2011

The Problem with Income Tax Vehicle Credits

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Late last week I received a press release from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), summarizing a report which di...
Friday, February 04, 2011

How to Kill a Bad Tax System That Will Not Die?

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The travails of the Philadelphia property tax system and the Board of Revision of Taxes that has administered that system are well known. Th...
Wednesday, February 02, 2011

When is No Tax Increase a Tax Increase?

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The parade of severe winter weather parading through parts of the country, including the Mid-Atlantic area, have had a devastating effect on...
Monday, January 31, 2011

Judge Judy and Tax Law Part II

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About ten days ago, in Judge Judy and Tax Law , I shared my reaction to a Judge Judy episode in which tax consequences played a tangential r...
Friday, January 28, 2011

Taxes and Gambling

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Several days ago, the Tax Court overruled one of its existing decisions, and in Mayo v. Comr. , 136 T.C. No. 4 (Jan. 25, 2011), held that th...