Monday, December 31, 2012

Is This Tax Preparation Nightmare Reawakening?

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Almost ten months ago, in Tax Return Preparation Disaster , I wrote about a tax return business called Mo’ Money Taxes, that had created nig...
Friday, December 28, 2012

When Tax Revenues Fall Short, Who Gets Paid?

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Almost two years, in The Price of Insufficient Tax Revenue , I described how the “success” of tax reduction in New Jersey compelled the city...
Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Why Not Read the Entire Sales Tax Statute?

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A little more than a month ago, in A Not So Dopey Tax Question , I considered a tax question raised by the operator of New Jersey’s first l...
Monday, December 24, 2012

Tax Pledges: Never Say Never

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When House Speaker John Boehner floated his since-abandoned “Plan B,” he put most Republican members of Congress into a bind. Under Plan B, ...
Friday, December 21, 2012

The Postponed Pain of Foolish Tax and Spending Decisions

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Eleven days ago, in When Tax Revenues are Short-Changed, What Should Be Cut if Taxes Are Not Raised? , I expressed my continued bewilderment...
Wednesday, December 19, 2012

User Fees: When Users Should Pay

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In some areas of this country, the words “beach tag” can spark intense discussions and even arguments. For some people, the thought of being...
Monday, December 17, 2012

Go Ahead, Cut Taxes

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A little more than a year ago, in Infrastructure, Tolls, Barns, Jackasses, and Carpenters , I explained why the anti-tax and anti-toll force...
Friday, December 14, 2012

When a Tax Argument is Nonsense, Why Not Say So?

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The first-time homebuyer credit has again been litigated. Three weeks ago, in When the IRC Defines a Term, It Trumps Other Definitions , I e...
Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Ohio as Role Model for Tax Policy

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High on my list of unacceptable revenue policies and practices is the diversion of revenue from the purpose for which it is collected to som...
Monday, December 10, 2012

When Tax Revenues are Short-Changed, What Should Be Cut if Taxes Are Not Raised?

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A recent poll has reinforced the inescapable conclusion that Americans, as a group, are illogical when it comes to tax and spending policie...
Friday, December 07, 2012

Liquid Fuels Tax Increases on the Table

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According to this story , calls for increases in gasoline and other liquid fuels taxes are being put forth by those who understand the need ...
Wednesday, December 05, 2012

The Hidden Government Spending Game

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The other day, a reader alerted me to a New York Times story that resonated with some positions I’ve taken with respect to federal, state, ...
Monday, December 03, 2012

Passing the Tax Responsibility Buck

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At the end of October, news stories, including this one , reported that hackers had managed to obtain millions of social security numbers, b...
Friday, November 30, 2012

Tax Rates and Deduction Caps

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In the flurry of news reports about some members of Congress who made the Norquist anti-tax pledge backing away from that promise, such as t...
Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Tithing and Taxing: What is (Gross) Income?

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Students in basic federal income tax courses throughout the country encounter the questions, what is income and what is gross income, early ...
Monday, November 26, 2012

Is Grover Norquist Singing a New Tax Tune?

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Readers of MauledAgain know that I am not a fan of Grover Norquist’s anti-tax-increase pledge tactics nor of the influence this unelected, s...
Friday, November 23, 2012

When the IRC Defines a Term, It Trumps Other Definitions

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On Monday, the Tax Court released an opinion, Cheung v. Comr. , T. C. Summary Op. 2012-114, in which it rejected a taxpayer’s argument that...
Thursday, November 22, 2012

A Thanksgiving Litany

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Like turkey, cranberry, and football, sharing a moment of thanks on the fourth Thursday of November has become a tradition on the MauledAgai...
Wednesday, November 21, 2012

A Not So Dopey Tax Question

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A recent news report highlights the confusion faced by Greenleaf Compassion Center when it has tried to determine whether the New Jersey sa...
Monday, November 19, 2012

Taxation of Medical Study Payments

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A recent Tax Court case, O’Connor v. Comr., , T.C. Memo 2012-317, makes it clear that amounts received by a taxpayer for participating in a ...
Friday, November 16, 2012

When Tax Meets the Demands of Law Practice

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One of the many things I try to get across to my students is that the demands of practice are many times the demands of law study. I don’t k...