Monday, June 29, 2015

The Anti-Tax Bully Strikes Again

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Readers of MauledAgain know that I consider Grover Norquist to be an anti-tax bully. In Debunking Tax Myths? , I shared opinions expressed b...
Friday, June 26, 2015

Should Bicyclists Pay Taxes for Road Upkeep?

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A story from two years ago with tax roots is now going viral, as a recent addendum to the story notes. Discussions about what was reported ...
Wednesday, June 24, 2015

So What’s Trickling Down?

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Back in January, in A New Play in the Make-the-Rich-Richer Game Plan , I explained how Kansas politicians were struggling with the need to r...
Monday, June 22, 2015

When Tax Ignorance Gets Particularly Scary

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As one of my readers put it, absurd claims about the size of the Internal Revenue Code is one of my favorite topics. Indeed it is. My explor...
Friday, June 19, 2015

A Tax Fray Between the Bricks and Mortar Stores and the Online Merchant Community

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Sometimes I wonder, when it appears that people exhibit ignorance, if they actually lack understanding and knowledge or simply are pretendin...
Wednesday, June 17, 2015

How Does a Politician Fix a Tax Law The Politician Doesn’t Understand?

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Perhaps we have been handed another clue in the great mystery of why tax laws don’t get fixed. It’s common knowledge that one reason for tax...
Monday, June 15, 2015

The New Five-Year Plan?

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In a National Review commentary , Tom Giovanetti of the Institute for Policy Innovation proposes that every law and regulation expire after ...
Friday, June 12, 2015

When Infrastructure Failure Is Up Close and Personal, Does It Make a Difference?

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Readers of this blog know that on my list of pet peeves – a list that keeps growing – is the foolishness of letting the nation’s infrastruct...
Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The Return of the Lap Dance Tax Challenge

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Almost two years ago, in Lap Dance Tax? , I first wrote about the attempt by Philadelphia to impose its amusement tax on fees paid for lap d...
Monday, June 08, 2015

Is the Federal Income Tax Progressive?

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When debate turns to federal income tax policy, one of the issues focuses on the acceptability of the progressive nature of the tax. Those w...
Friday, June 05, 2015

Appetite for Taxes?

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According to a recent news report describing efforts by the Philadelphia School Reform Commission to deal with the underfunding of city sch...
Wednesday, June 03, 2015

Where’s the Promised Trickle-Over?

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Developers and investors who like to use public funds for private enterprises often try to justify their grab by claiming that the enterpris...
Monday, June 01, 2015

Can Anyone Do Business Without Tax Subsidies?

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Once upon a time, a person, or even a corporation, prepared to engage in business or engaging in business, estimated or measured revenue, es...
Friday, May 29, 2015

Collecting an Existing Tax Does Not Create a New Tax

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For whatever reason, some people seem to think that being required to pay an existing tax amounts to the creation of a new tax. In a recent ...
Wednesday, May 27, 2015

When Arguing Tax Policy, Don’t Let Simplistic Inaccuracies Overshadow Strong But Complicated Arguments

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An image making the rounds on facebook has this to offer about federal taxation: Government Handouts That the Rich Get, But Fox “News” Will ...
Monday, May 25, 2015

Between Theory and Reality is the (Tax) Test

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No, I’m not referring to the tax exams that stand between a student’s coursework and practice experience. What has been pulled from the back...
Friday, May 22, 2015

Doing Arithmetic: An Insight into Tax Policy Conundrums

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Sometimes, in trying to help people understand the facts beneath tax policy issues, I wonder why many have difficulty grasping the essential...
Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Dependency Exemption Parental Tie-Breaker Rule

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A recent case, Rolle v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2015-93, illustrates the dependency tie-breaker rule. The taxpayer married Raina in 2006. During 2...
Monday, May 18, 2015

So Where’s the Money?

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Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has reacted, according to this story to “proposals to tax the rich to pay for more...
Friday, May 15, 2015

When Is a Casualty Loss Not (Yet) A Casualty Loss?

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In a recent decision, Hyler v. Comr. , T.C. Summ. Op. 2015-34, the Tax Court held that a taxpayer’s casualty loss deduction claimed in 2012 ...
Wednesday, May 13, 2015

When Do Relationships End for Federal Income Tax Purposes?

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A recent case, Cowan v. Comr. , T.C. Memo 2015-85, required the Tax Court to decide when the relationship of a foster parent to a foster chi...
Monday, May 11, 2015

Funding Pothole Repairs With Spending Cuts? Really?

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Readers of this blog know that I think it is silly to reject fixing potholes with tax increases because of the “no taxes” meme, when that me...
Friday, May 08, 2015

How to Tax Unrealized Appreciation at Death: Modifying a Proposal

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Two weeks ago, in An Immoral Tax? , I explained, as I have done previously in Capital Gains, Dividends, and Taxes , As I Expected, Tax Defor...