Friday, April 29, 2016

Can Mischaracterizing an Undesired Tax Backfire?

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A little more than a month ago, in Soda Tax Debate Bubbles Up , I noted that I had heard a radio spot on a local radio station seeking suppo...
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A Backwards Tax Argument

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It isn’t unusual for a taxpayer to report less income on a federal income tax return than is shown on an information return such as a Form W...
Monday, April 25, 2016

A Tax End-Run That Didn’t Work

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In a recent private letter ruling, PLR 201616002 , the IRS concluded that a corporation’s matching contributions on account of employee poli...
Friday, April 22, 2016

If This Happens, It Would Be a Tax Miracle

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Once upon a time, Donald Rumsfeld, who finished his career in government as Secretary of Defense, served in Congress. He served as administr...
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Taxed When Receiving Nothing?

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Sometimes basic tax principles are easy to state but difficult to understand. Recently, in Lamas-Richie v. Comr. , T.C. Memo. 2016-63, the T...
Monday, April 18, 2016

Timing Matters in the Tax World

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One of the basic principles I try to help students understand is that in the tax world, as elsewhere, timing matters. That is a concept over...
Friday, April 15, 2016

Tax Day Numbers

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Actually, today isn’t tax day even though it is April 15. Because of a holiday, tax day is either April 18 or April 19. All these April holi...
Wednesday, April 13, 2016

A Fat Tax?

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A reader referred me to an article asking, “Can 'Fat Tax' Curb Americans' Appetite for Unhealthy Foods? My answer is no. A “fat...
Monday, April 11, 2016

Do Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Create Jobs?

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Readers of this blog know that I do not subscribe to the claim that tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs. As I’ve explained many times, for ...
Friday, April 08, 2016

Guilty of Tax Evasion But Owing No Tax

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When those who are not tax practitioners, and even some tax practitioners, complain that the tax law is complicated and often makes little o...
Wednesday, April 06, 2016

If Math Pain Exists, is Tax Pain Real?

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Last week, a reader shared with me a story which, though about three and a half years old, is something I wish I had not missed. But, it’s n...
Monday, April 04, 2016

The Tax Scream

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A reader sent me a link to a Hallmark e-card that you might want to share with your family, friends, colleagues, and clients. Or not. I c...
Friday, April 01, 2016

If Not Tax Return Preparation, What Else?

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Many people dislike paying taxes. Some people dislike, or even fear, the prospect of sitting through and taking an exam in a tax course. Ver...
Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Tax Fears

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When I was teaching the basic tax course, at the beginning of almost every semester during which the course was offered, at least one studen...
Monday, March 28, 2016

Taxes, Penalties, Additions to Tax, and Additional Amounts

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A recent Tax Court decision, El v. Comr. , 144 T.C. No. 9 (2016), presented an issue of first impression, specifically, whether section 7491...
Friday, March 25, 2016

Tax Perspectives of the Wealthy: Observing the Writing on the Wall

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It’s easy to put all wealthy individuals into one tax policy basket, accusing them of wanting nothing but lower taxes. But as I have pointed...
Wednesday, March 23, 2016

When a Tax Theory Fails: Own Up or Make Excuses?

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The call for tax cuts for the wealthy continues. More than several candidates for the Presidency, including some who have since dropped out ...
Monday, March 21, 2016

Deficit-Haters Enable Deficits

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There is a group of voters, and politicians representing them, who decry state and federal budget deficits. Yet most of these deficit-haters...
Friday, March 18, 2016

Soda Tax Debate Bubbles Up

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The re-introduction of a soda tax proposal in Philadelphia has triggered a outpouring of objections, support, questions, criticisms, and re-...
Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Backing up Tax Break Promises

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One of the reasons I object to using the tax law to distribute economic benefits to particular individuals and businesses, aside from comple...
Monday, March 14, 2016

The Russian Sugar and Fat Tax Proposal: Smarter, More Sensible, or Just A Need for More Revenue?

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Last week, in What Gets Taxed If the Goal Is Health Improvement? , I commented on a suggestion that Philadelphia’s re-emerging soda tax prop...
Friday, March 11, 2016

Why Not Sell Losing Lottery Tickets?

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Why would someone want to sell losing lottery tickets? The answer is simple. Those losing tickets have value to someone who wins a lottery, ...
Wednesday, March 09, 2016

Buying and Selling Dependency Exemptions for Tax Purposes

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A reader alerted me to this story . It fits into the “we don’t need to make things up” category that I often mention when posing questions t...
Monday, March 07, 2016

What Gets Taxed If the Goal Is Health Improvement?

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Several days ago, in Philadelphia’s Latest Soda Tax Proposal: Health or Revenue? , I questioned whether the latest soda tax proposal in Phil...
Friday, March 04, 2016

Estate Tax or Inheritance Tax, Which Is It?

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According to several reports, including this one , New Jersey is considering repealing its estate tax as part of a larger proposal to increa...
Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Philadelphia’s Latest Soda Tax Proposal: Health or Revenue?

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It was more than seven years ago when I first wrote about the soda tax, in What Sort of Tax? . Since then I have revisited the issue at leas...