Monday, June 30, 2014

Tax Myths: Part II: The IRS Enacted the Internal Revenue Code

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It is not uncommon to discover someone’s assertion that the IRS has enacted a particular Internal Revenue Code section or even the entire Co...
Friday, June 27, 2014

Tax Myths: Part I: Introduction

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Misperceptions about taxes abound. I’m not referring to the parade of rationalizations from the tax protest movement, though the terrible co...
Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Look at What No-Taxes Gets Us

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It’s a common complaint, tinged with a bit of humor, often heard when summer driving season rolls around. Highway construction slows traffic...
Monday, June 23, 2014

Taxes and Jobs

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New Jersey is in a quandary. A budget quandary. It’s not alone, but it presents an interesting example of the sort of choices that must be m...
Friday, June 20, 2014

Taxes Ought Not Be Hidden

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Earlier this week, in a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed , Nicholas E. Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America, came out in support of t...
Wednesday, June 18, 2014

The Contagiousness of Tax Noncompliance

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Almost two weeks ago, in Is It Fraud, Negligence, or Simple Tax Hatred? , I wrote about a Republican member of Congress who claimed a proper...
Monday, June 16, 2014

Almost Always, in Tax, We Must Get It Right the First Time

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A recent case, Baur v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-117, demonstrates why, sometimes, the tax law doesn’t provide a reset button. If we don’t get ...
Friday, June 13, 2014

When the Poor Need Help, Give Tax Dollars to the Rich

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It truly is amazing that some of the people who complain about their tax bills appear thrilled with a deal that the state of New Jersey has ...
Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Eliminating Taxes Cannot Buy Happiness

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There is, I think, an addiction that gets little, if any, attention, though some studies, such as the one described in this report , are beg...
Monday, June 09, 2014

Is It Any Wonder People Think the Tax Law is Wacky?

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The facts are simple. The taxpayer is hired, the employer pays a salary, and the employer also sets aside some money in a deferred compensat...
Friday, June 06, 2014

Is It Fraud, Negligence, or Simple Tax Hatred?

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Reaching into my pile of topics waiting for attention, I pulled out this story from three weeks ago. A homeowner in Indiana computed the pr...
Wednesday, June 04, 2014

It’s Not a New Tax, Yet Again

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About a year ago, in It’s Not a New Tax , I explained why legislation to shift collection of a tax is not the equivalent of a new tax. Today...
Monday, June 02, 2014

It’s Not Just Taxes

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Bartlett D. Cleland, at the Institute for Policy Innovation , has published commentary in which he asks, “What's Wrong with the Middle ...
Friday, May 30, 2014

What Does It Mean to Dispose of A Passive Activity?

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Section 469(a) prohibits a taxpayer from deducting passive losses in excess of passive income. Under section 469(b), passive losses that can...
Wednesday, May 28, 2014

When Tax Cuts Matter More Than Pothole Repair

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The danger faced by Americans from the preaching and successes of those who despise taxes and user fees is no less real and surely more exte...
Monday, May 26, 2014

Windfalls Are Taxed, Even If The Taxpayer Thinks It is Unfair to Do So

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It is a basic tax law principle that economic windfalls are taxed. That principle applies to a variety of transactions, and as a recent tax ...
Friday, May 23, 2014

No Deduction If Entitled to Reimbursement

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It is a long-established principle of federal income tax law that a taxpayer is not permitted to deduct an otherwise deductible expense to t...
Wednesday, May 21, 2014

It Seems So Simple, But It’s Tax

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The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has released report , Significant Discrepancies Exist Between Alimony Deductions Claim...
Monday, May 19, 2014

The Continued Assault on the Tax Foundations of American Civilization

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The IRS Oversight Board has released a report, FY 2015 IRS Budget Recommendation Special Report , that examines the seemingly eternal proble...
Friday, May 16, 2014

When Potholes Meet Privatization

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My use of potholes as the poster child for what is wrong with the public fiscal policy perspectives advanced by the anti-government, anti-ta...
Wednesday, May 14, 2014

If You Don’t Like It, Call It a Name, But Don't Call It a Tax If It's Not a Tax

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Most of us do not enjoy sitting at red lights. Most of us do not enjoy shelling out money for something because we would prefer to get it fo...
Monday, May 12, 2014

Yet Another Reason Taxes and User Fee Increases Are Cheaper

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One of my many disagreements with anti-tax arguments is that they are so focused on the short-term that they miss the present value of the l...
Friday, May 09, 2014

When Subtracting Isn’t the Opposite of Adding

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The federal budget deficit exists because expenditures exceed revenue. Revenue increases reduce the deficit. Spending cuts reduce the defici...