Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Prospects for Tax Reform?

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From time to time, and rather often during the past few months, people ask me to describe the chances for tax reform. My response is always ...
Monday, November 04, 2013

Tolls, Taxes, and User Fees in a Public-Private Context

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An important decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia, Elizabeth River Crossings v. Meeks, Docket No. 130954 (Va. 2013) , addresses the imp...
Friday, November 01, 2013

Mileage-Based Road Fees: Privatization and Privacy

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A reader commented in response to my post earlier this week, Highways Are Not Free , by pointing out that the mileage-based road fee poses a...
Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Some Scary Halloween Thoughts

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Though I don’t remember when, how, or why I decided to give a special place in this blog every October-end to the connection between Hallowe...
Monday, October 28, 2013

Highways Are Not Free

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A letter to the editor in last Monday’s Philadelphia Inquirer reminded me of how difficult it is to get people to understand that highways ...
Friday, October 25, 2013

One More Price Comparison: Chocolate

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What we did not need is more bad news, especially of this sort, so near to Halloween. According to this report , the price of chocolate is g...
Wednesday, October 23, 2013

User Fee Scofflaws

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Maybe it’s a mistake. Perhaps it’s some sort of digital error. Or perhaps the equipment isn’t working. But it’s almost certainly not an erro...
Monday, October 21, 2013

Looking at Numbers

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In recent years, increases in college tuition have brought complaints and criticism, as noted in this report , and have generated stress for...
Friday, October 18, 2013

Law, Genealogy, Adoption, and Assisted Reproduction

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The headline on an inner section of Wednesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer caught my eye. Considering my interest in family history and genealogy...
Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A Nation’s Inability to Understand the Value of Taxes and User Fees

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One of my concerns about the susceptibility of citizens to the promises of tax cuts and tax elimination by the anti-tax, let-the-private-sec...
Monday, October 14, 2013

Do Dead People Pay Taxes?

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Once a person dies, the person’s obligation to pay taxes ceases. Tax obligations accrued during lifetime must be paid, of course, and that’s...
Friday, October 11, 2013

Tax Review Board Strips City’s Lap Dance Tax Attempt

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Back in July, I commented on the City of Philadelphia’s attempt to impose its amusement tax on fees paid for lap dances. In Lap Dance Tax? ,...
Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Tax Language: Simplistic Isn’t Simplification

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A reader asked me to examine what the IRS has done in its attempt to reduce section 280A(c) to something easier for taxpayers to understand....
Monday, October 07, 2013

Searching For What Already Has Been Found, Tax Style

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According to a story in Friday’s Philadelphia Inquirer , “New proposals to place tolls on the nation's interstate highways have stirred ...
Friday, October 04, 2013

Congressional Approval Rating Sinks Even Lower

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The rest of America seems to be catching up with those of us who, for decades, have found fault with the manner in which the United States C...
Wednesday, October 02, 2013

Failing to Keep Those Records Can Increase Taxes

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Not long ago, in The Aggravation of Tax Paperwork , after describing a case in which the taxpayer’s failure to keep records undermined the t...
Monday, September 30, 2013

“Tax Us More!” Say Some Wealthy Pennsylvanians

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Philadelphia’s public schools are in dire financial straits, to the point where closing schools and showing employees to the door won’t solv...
Friday, September 27, 2013

Tax Argument Cleverness Can Be Too Clever

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A recent Tax Court case, Cahill v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2013-220, illustrates why cleverness alone not only can be insufficient to win the argu...
Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Federal Supervision of State User Fees: Another Example of Its Necessity

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The movement attempting to reduce or eliminate federal taxation and to reduce or eliminate the federal government presents, as one of its ju...
Monday, September 23, 2013

More Proof the Tax Law is Too Complex?

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With the tax law drowning in credits and deductions, it’s no wonder that the IRS has characterized two deductions as credits. On its Credits...
Friday, September 20, 2013

Deductions Require Evidence and a Bit of Care

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A recent Tax Court decision, Linzy v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2013-219, grabbed my attention for two reasons. One is substantive, the other is pro...
Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Getting Smart About Residential Financing

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Earlier this year, in Getting Smart About Tax Questions , I criticized Marilyn vos Savant, allegedly the world’s smartest woman , about some...
Monday, September 16, 2013

Another Look at Highway Privatization

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Several years ago, in Are Private Tolls More Efficient Than Public Tolls? , I described why it is wrong to put public assets into the hands ...
Friday, September 13, 2013

Polishing Subchapter K: Part XX

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The definition in section 753 of income in respect of a decedent refers only to section 736(a) payments. If section 736 is repealed, section...
Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Polishing Subchapter K: Part XIX

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If section 736 is the most criticized provision in subchapter K, the anti-abuse regulations might be the most criticized regulations under s...
Monday, September 09, 2013

Polishing Subchapter K: Part XVIII

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Section 708 provides that a partnership terminates for federal income tax purposes if “within a 12-month period there is a sale or exchange ...
Friday, September 06, 2013

Polishing Subchapter K: Part XVII

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Section 736 is one of the most frequently criticized provisions in subchapter K. Proposals for its repeal have been in place for decades. It...