Friday, November 28, 2014

An Unanswered Tax Question for the Letter Writer

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Over the past few years I have pointed to the existence of bad roads as a lesson in the foolishness of alleged short-term tax cut benefits b...
Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Giving Thanks: “No, Thank YOU!”

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A few years ago, in a sermon, the then pastor of my church, a former English teacher, pointed out that he was bothered by the increasing use...
Monday, November 24, 2014

More Tax Ignorance

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Circulating on facebook, and probably on other social media, is a photograph with this legend: Up until 1913 Americans kept all of their ea...
Friday, November 21, 2014

How Difficult Is It to Understand Use Taxes?

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A recent commentary in the Philadelphia Inquirer advocates extension of the moratorium on collection of sales taxes by out-of-state retaile...
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Satire, Tax or Otherwise, Lost on Americans

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Few people understand satire. It’s such a dangerous practice that one wonders whether in the long run it does more harm than good. Recently,...
Monday, November 17, 2014

Soda Sales Shifting?

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In last Wednesday’s post, Escaping Tax and User Fee Revenue Diversion , my analysis of a Philadelphia cigarette tax included an exploration ...
Friday, November 14, 2014

Foolish Tax Filing Decisions Disclosed to Judge Judy

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From time to time, tax issues pop up on television court shows. I have described these episodes on five previous occasions, starting with Ju...
Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Escaping Tax and User Fee Revenue Diversion

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Several months ago, in Delaying a Questionable Tax , I explained one of my objections to the then pending, and subsequently approved, new Ph...
Monday, November 10, 2014

Letter from the Tax Advisor? Read It

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A recent Tax Court case, Singhal v. Comr. , T.C. Summ. Op. 2014-102, presents an important lesson for taxpayers. The taxpayers were married,...
Friday, November 07, 2014

If You Don’t Own the House, You Don’t Get the Interest Deduction

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A recent case, Puentes v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-224, illustrates the principle that a taxpayer who is neither legal nor equitable owner of ...
Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Mortgage Loan Modification Can Imperil Interest Deduction

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With mortgage loan modifications rather commonplace, particularly during times of economic downturns, taxpayers need to be careful when re-a...
Monday, November 03, 2014

The Tax and Traffic Squeeze

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Last week, on my 10-hour round-trip drive to meet my first grandchild, a thought crossed my mind. It was triggered by the experience of need...
Friday, October 31, 2014

The Inequality of Halloween?

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From the outset, I have made it a point to work Halloween into MauledAgain, usually looking for the silly or goofy but occasionally taking a...
Wednesday, October 29, 2014

How Not to File a Tax Court Petition

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A recent case, Sanchez v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-223, demonstrates how a taxpayer should not file a Tax Court petition. The taxpayer receive...
Monday, October 27, 2014

The True Cost of Stopping a Tax Increase

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From this story , I learned that there is a ballot question in Massachusetts asking voters to decide whether the inflation-adjustment indexi...
Friday, October 24, 2014

At The Mercy of the Tax Office

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It could be anyone’s nightmare. For one woman, it is her reality. According to this story , the city of Norcross, Georgia, has sold a woma...
Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Tax Complications Often Mask Tax Breaks

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On Monday, a reader of the Albuquerque Journal sent an inquiry to a columnist who carefully answered the question . The reader wanted to kno...
Monday, October 20, 2014

Putting the Brakes on Tax Breaks

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Philadelphia City Council has approved legislation giving yet another tax break to employers. According to this story , city officials are u...
Friday, October 17, 2014

Fighting Over Pie or Baking Pie?

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Four months ago, in When the Poor Need Help, Give Tax Dollars to the Rich , I criticized the decision by New Jersey’s Governor Christie to d...
Wednesday, October 15, 2014

A Bad Tax Pun

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I like puns, and word games. The other day I came across one that meshed with taxation. It’s bad, so it’s appropriate for hump day. We kno...
Monday, October 13, 2014

So What Would You Have Advised?

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A recent Tax Court case, Kalapodis v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2014-205, presents an opportunity to explore how the tax law affects the manner in w...
Friday, October 10, 2014

Who’s to Blame for Failure to Withhold?

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Many Pennsylvania towns impose a local services tax, which is limited to $52. Most localities have opted to impose the maximum amount. The t...
Wednesday, October 08, 2014

The Tax-and-Spending Thing

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My last comment concerning the Philadelphia cigarette tax was two months ago, in Delaying a Questionable Tax . Aside from my criticism of a ...
Monday, October 06, 2014

Do Squatters Have Gross Income?

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A reader pointed me in the direction of an article about an Indiana woman who has been living rent-free for eight years in a house that she...
Friday, October 03, 2014

What to Do with Old Tax Receipts

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Thanks to a reader alerting me to this story , I now know what someone 1500 years ago did with an old tax receipt. Perhaps this discovery wi...
Wednesday, October 01, 2014

So Who Really To Be Helped with Taxpayer Dollars?

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One of the arguments advanced by the anti-tax, anti-government crowd is the supposed inappropriateness of using taxpayer dollars to help peo...
Monday, September 29, 2014

When Two Are Cheaper Than One

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Many years ago, while discussing entry-level law practice jobs, I suggested that it would make more sense for law firms to hire two law scho...
Friday, September 26, 2014

Tax Protesting: A Bad Idea No Matter How One Views It

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More than two and a half years ago, in Tax Advice With No Teeth , I pointed out that one of the risks encountered by tax protesters who rely...
Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Dangers of Earmarking General Tax Revenue

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Earlier this month, in Tax-Exempt Status Benefits Aren’t Necessary Unless There is Net Income , I noted that calls to tax the NFL, and other...
Monday, September 22, 2014

Yet Another Danger of Tax Complexity

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When the phrase “tax complexity” shows up in a conversation, most people think about the complications of a particular tax. It’s no secret t...
Friday, September 19, 2014

An Epidemic of Tax Ignorance

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Of course it’s not the worst mistake someone can make, if in fact it is a mistake. But when a person makes a mistake with respect to a simpl...
Wednesday, September 17, 2014

The Scary Specter of Code Size Ignorance

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It’s one of my favorite examples of how tax ignorance afflicts the nation. When something simple about tax cannot be understood, what happen...