Monday, April 29, 2013

Another Sales Tax Exemption Taking Off as the Economy Continues to Sink

›
According to this report , the Pennsylvania legislature is on the brink of enacting yet another exemption to the sales tax. This time, it is...
Friday, April 26, 2013

When Taxes Are Cheaper

›
According to a recent report , two-thirds of Americans oppose increases in state gasoline taxes to fund road and bridge repairs. The poll re...
Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Putting It in Writing Makes Good Tax Sense

›
About a month ago, in The Aggravation of Tax Paperwork , I explained how failure to put into writing an acknowledgement of a charitable cont...
Monday, April 22, 2013

The “Rain Tax”?

›
There are all sorts of taxes. Six years ago, in Deconstructing Tax Myths , I shared an email that had been circulating not only a list of ta...
Friday, April 19, 2013

Tax Compliance and Non-Compliance: Identifying the Factors

›
A new report from the IRS Taxpayer Advocate, Factors Influencing Voluntary Compliance by Small Businesses: Preliminary Survey Results, shed...
Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Getting Smart About Tax Questions

›
The Ask Marilyn column in last Sunday’s Parade Magazine addressed a tax question. The question was a good one, though technically it could ...
Monday, April 15, 2013

Simplifying the Tax Return Process

›
They still don’t get it. Every year, about this time, as people struggle with their tax return preparation tasks, the pied pipers selling th...
Friday, April 12, 2013

So Cutting IRS Funding Won’t Decrease Revenues? Yeah, OK.

›
During a hearing on Tuesday in front of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee, Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller e...
Wednesday, April 10, 2013

How To Protest a Tax: Part Two

›
When I posted my recent commentary on the use of dance as a form of tax protest, How to Protest a Tax , I did not think there would be a Par...
Monday, April 08, 2013

How Not to Litigate a Tax Case

›
Two recent Tax Court cases demonstrate why it is important to retain receipts and other documents, and, where necessary, to memorialize deci...
Friday, April 05, 2013

How to Protest a Tax

›
People do not like taxes. People make their dislike for taxes known through an assortment of techniques. Once upon a time, some colonials du...
Wednesday, April 03, 2013

What Happened to the Tax Cut Money?

›
The damaging tax cuts that reduced national revenue to its lowest levels as a percentage of GDP in decades were hyped as good for the natio...
Monday, April 01, 2013

Julian Block's Return Trip to the World of Travel and Moving

›
Almost two years ago, in Julian Block: On the Road Again , I shared my reactions to Julian Block’s “Tax Deductible Travel and Moving Expense...
Friday, March 29, 2013

Taxing Damages

›
The tax treatment of damages depends on what the damages represent. In the basic federal income tax course, students learn that the first st...
Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How Privatization Works: It Fails the Taxpayers and Benefits the Private Sector

›
Every time a person blinks, another privatization proposal pops up. The private sector, which considers itself infinitely superior to the pu...
Monday, March 25, 2013

Tax Meets the Chicken and the Egg

›
When I teach the basic federal income tax course, I make certain that the students understand, early on, that tax law is much more than play...
Friday, March 22, 2013

So How Does This Tax Plan Add Up?

›
The answer is simple. It doesn’t. The tax plan in question is the latest Paul Ryan budget . The Ryan plan maintains aggregate revenue. Howev...
Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Aggravation of Tax Paperwork

›
Usually, when people mention the aggravation of managing paperwork for income tax purposes, they are referring to the annual ritual of colle...
Monday, March 18, 2013

So Why Are Law Students Becoming Less Literate?

›
Thanks to a post on the Legal Skills Prof Blog , my attention was directed to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Michele Go...
Friday, March 15, 2013

Tax Depreciation: Do the Math

›
When I teach the depreciation deduction in the basic federal income tax course, I try to balance conceptual notions with computational aspec...
Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Financial Literacy and Economic Inequality

›
My two most recent posts on financial literacy, specifically A School Tax Question: So Whose Job Is It to Teach Financial Literacy? and Add...
Monday, March 11, 2013

Who Are Your Tax Policy Friends?

›
There is wealth distribution video making the rounds of the web and email. It compares what people think wealth distribution should be, wha...