Friday, January 30, 2015

Voting for Tax Refund Delays

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The IRS Commissioner has disclosed that because “It takes longer to process paper returns and in light of IRS budget cuts resulting in a sm...
Wednesday, January 28, 2015

The Taxation of Egg Donations

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Almost two years ago, in Getting Smart About Tax Questions , I expressed agreement with the advice given to an individual who donated eggs t...
Monday, January 26, 2015

No Agreement? No Alimony Deduction

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A recent Tax Court case, Milbourn v. Comr. , T. C. Memo 2015-13, teaches an important lesson to spouses working their way through divorce pr...
Friday, January 23, 2015

Halfway There?

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Social media is all aflutter, or should I say, atwitter, reacting to news that by 2016 the top one percent will own nearly half the world’s...
Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Getting the Tax Facts

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When I finished reading this recent story , my first thought was, “Well, what REALLY happened?” According to the story a person identified...
Monday, January 19, 2015

Still Puzzled Four Years After Conviction to File Income Tax Returns

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Almost four years ago, in Why Teaching Isn’t Just a Matter of What One Knows or Understands , I commented on the conviction of a then Hamlin...
Friday, January 16, 2015

Does Rejection Block a Deduction?

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It’s a simple tax question with a complicated response. The facts that raise the question aren’t difficult to understand, though they do rai...
Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A New Play in the Make-the-Rich-Richer Game Plan

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A few weeks ago, in A Tax Policy Turn-Around? , I wrote about how the income tax cuts for the wealthy backfired, causing the rich to get ric...
Monday, January 12, 2015

What’s Better Than a Tax Break?

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In his latest column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Joseph DiStefano reports that Mark Vitner, of Wells Fargo Securities L.L.C., tries to e...
Friday, January 09, 2015

The Federal Gas Tax: Getting It Right

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According to a recent report , several Republican senators are considering an increase in the federal gas tax. Tempted by reductions in the ...
Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Another Tax for the List

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More than seven years ago, in Deconstructing Tax Myths , I shared a list of different types of taxes. In addition to the usual income taxes,...
Monday, January 05, 2015

Time to Amend the Pennsylvania Constitution’s Anti-Graduated Tax Rate Provision?

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Back in March, I reacted to a proposal by then gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf to change the Pennsylvania income tax so that high-income in...
Friday, January 02, 2015

Pay Now, Pay Later

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Readers of MauledAgain know that I prefer paying now for necessary transportation infrastructure repairs rather than paying later. Though it...
Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Counting Tax Chickens Before They Hatch

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What can a state legislature do when it needs money to fix its transportation infrastructure? There are all sorts of taxation choices, but V...
Monday, December 29, 2014

A Tax Policy Turn-Around?

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Readers of MauledAgain know that I do not subscribe to the theory that tax cuts for the wealthy will trickle down and improve the economic c...
Friday, December 26, 2014

Enact Tax Laws But Break Them?

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However this story turns out, it seems absurd that a member of Congress who pleads guilty to tax evasion would not immediately resign. Even...
Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Tossing Up Tax Issues

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I’m torn between being pleased and being disgusted. The confusion was sparked by a report I heard several mornings ago on the local news sta...
Monday, December 22, 2014

Do Taxes Kill Jobs?

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The governor-elect of Pennsylvania included in his campaign platform a promise to seek imposition of a severance tax on the energy companies...
Friday, December 19, 2014

Code Size Claim Shrinks But Not Enough

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One of my favorite examples of tax misinformation is the persistent claim that the Internal Revenue Code is a gargantuan multi-million word ...
Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Tax Question: What Is “It” in “We don’t need it”?

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Last weekend a news story revealed the results of a poll of New Jersey residents. Asked for a reaction to increased fuel taxes to pay for ...
Monday, December 15, 2014

It’s Not Just Tax Ignorance, Is It?

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For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an educator, and for many years, I have been one. People ask me why. My answer is simple. Some...
Friday, December 12, 2014

Why Do Those Who Dislike Government Spending Continue to Support Government Spenders?

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There’s something not quite right in the collective psyche of the anti-government-spending crowd. Enraged by high taxes, they manage to put ...
Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Do-It-Yourself Tax Preparation? Better?

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In recent years, in part because of economic conditions, an increasing number of people have turned to do-it-yourself projects. If the do-it...
Monday, December 08, 2014

How Best to Describe the Use Tax Collection Issue?

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Readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of permitting states to impose on out-of-state retailers the burden of collecting use taxes th...
Friday, December 05, 2014

Being Nice to a Sibling Can Be Tax Costly

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A recent Tax Court decision illustrates how tax law intrudes on what otherwise would appear to be the simplest of things. Imagine owning a r...
Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Apparently, It’s Rather Difficult to Understand Use Taxes

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A little more than a week ago, in How Difficult Is It to Understand Use Taxes? , I reflected on recent Philadelphia Inquirer commentary sup...
Monday, December 01, 2014

The Making of Tax Law Too Often Stinks

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If, as John Godfrey Saxe said in a quote often misattributed to Otto von Bismarck, “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proport...
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...